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THE QUAKER INVASION OF 
MASSACHUSETTS. 

3 



RICHARD P. HALLOWELL. 





BOSTON: 
HOUGHTON, MH^FLIN AND COMPANY. 

New York: 11 East Seventeenth Street. 

1883. 



f< 



61 



)i/§ 



Copyright, 1883, 
By RICHARD P. HALLOWELL. 



All rights reserved. 



The Riverside Press, Cambridge : 
Electrotyped and Printed by II 0- Ilougliton and Company. 



PREFATORY NOTE. 



The object of this little volume is to cor- 
rect popular fallacies and to assign to the 
Quakers their true place in the early his- 
tory of Massachusetts. Any one who con- 
sults it with the expectation of finding a de- 
tailed and harrowing recital of every case 
of suffering by the Friends will be disap- 
pointed. This branch of the subject is 
treated only so far as is necessary to illus- 
trate the mode of persecution resorted to 
by the Colonial authorities and the spirit 
in which it was resisted by the Quakers. 

In addition to Puritan laws and other 
documents already published by the State, 
the Appendix contains some very interest- 
ing evidence never before published, and 
much material which, while it may be fa- 



iv PREFATORY NOTE. 

miliar to students who have made the sub- 
ject one of special inquiry, will be both 
new and instructive to the general reader. 

R. P. H. 

Boston, Mass., 4th mo., 1883. 



CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER I 

PAGE 

Introductory. — The Rise of Quakerism .... 1 

CHAPTER H. 

The Invasion. — Measures of Resistance and De- 
fense 32 

CHAPTER III. 
The "Warfare 56 

CHAPTER IV. 

Character and Conduct of the Invaders. — Mod- 
ern Reviewers reviewed 69 

CHAPTER V. 
The Cause of the War, and its Results . . . .117 

APPENDIX. 

Colonial Laws for the Suppression of Quakers .... 133 
Petition for Severer Laws against the Quakers, October, 

1058 153 

The Examination of Quakers at ye Court of Assistants 

in Boston, March 7, 1659-60 157 



vi CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

James Cudworth's Letter, written in the Tenth Month, 

1658 162 

The Story of Hored Gardner 172 

Recapitulation of the Sufferings of Laurence and Cas- 
sandra Southick 173 

A Brief Sketch of the Sufferings of Elizabeth Hooten . 177 
Order for sending Quakers out of the Jurisdiction ; to- 
gether with the Petition of John Rouse, John Cope- 
land, Samuel Shattock and -others to the King for 

interference 182 

Abstract from Joint Letter of William Robinson and 

Marmaduke Stevenson 202 

Letter of Mary Dyer 206 

Abstract of Letter from William Leddra, written to his 

Friends on the Day before his Execution .... 208 

Daniel Gould's Letter 210 

Letter from Mary Traske and Margaret Smith, accusing 

the Government 213 

John Burstow's Letter 217 

Letter from Josiah Suthick, a Quaker, to the Deputies 

assembled in the General Court 220 



THE QUAKER INVASION OF 
MASSACHUSETTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTORY. THE RISE OF QUAKERISM. 

PUEITANISM, as the word implies, origi- 
nated in an effort to purify tlie Protestant 
Christian Church. It inaugurated a reform 
almost as radical as the Protestant Refor- 
mation. 

At a later day the name was narrowed 
in its significance, and was applied only to 
those who adhered to Calvinistic doctrines 
of religion, and attempted to establish both 
in Old and New England a theocracy based 
upon the Mosaic law and other teachings of 
the Old Testament. It was the parent, 
however, from whose loins issued the brood 
of rehgious sects which, as we shall see, 
divided the English people into hostile 
camps, and ultimately bequeathed to us the 
religious liberty we now enjoy. 



2 THE QUAKER INVASION 

Under Queen Elizabeth, and notwith- 
standing her repressive measures, Puritan- 
ism secured a permanent foothold in the 
English nation, and before the death of 
James I. it had become a mighty power. 
The introduction of the Bible into every 
cottage in the land inaugurated a revolu- 
tion of which the end is not yet. All 
other literature was subordinated to the 
Old and New Testaments. During the 
greater part of the seventeenth century the 
people abandoned themselves to the con- 
sideration of questions appertaining to civil 
and religious libert}^, and to the solution 
of religious problems. Ecclesiasticism, in- 
trenched in the government, disputed with 
bitterness and ferocity every step of the 
people in the direction of freedom. The 
daring but abortive effort of Laud to bring 
about a reconciliation between Rome and 
the Anglican Church contributed largely 
to the overthrow of Charles I., and ended 
in the execution of both the Archbishop 
and his master.^ The bigotry and cruelty 
of Laud were matched by the bigotry and 
cruelty of the Presbyterian. Milton be- 

1 Sec account of Laud's trial. Ncal's History of the Puri- 
tans, Toulmia'rf cditiou, vol. iii. p. 231. 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 3 

queatlied to us im epigniiu that will live 
until religious intolerance ceases to plague 
the world. It runs, " new Presbyter is but 
old Priest writ large." 

During the period of the Commonwealth 
toleration was fostered by the genius of Sir 
Harry Vane, and in a measure by Oliver 
Cromwell, but during those yetxrs and the 
succeeding reigns of Charles IT. and James 
II., coercion and persecution, as well as 
political intrigue, played a conspicuous part 
in the vain effort to stay the progress of 
free inquiry and to arrest the development 
of liberal principles. Dissent increased 
under the stimulus of restraint and perse- 
cution. The middle of the century was a 
period of intense excitement. The spirit of 
controversy seemed to possess all classes. 
Thousands of controversial books and tracts 
were published. Parliament turned aside 
from the consideration of state affairs to 
discuss questions of religion. The courts of 
justice were continually the arena of relig- 
ious debate. Itinerant preachers addressed 
multitudes of eager men and women in pub- 
lic houses, in the market-place, in barns, 
and in the open fields. The churches were 
filled with congregations gathered not only 



4 THE QUAKER INVASION 

to hear aggressive sermons delivered by reg- 
ular pastors, but to listen to the harangues 
of speakers representing other sects. At 
Leicester, in 1648, no less than four differ- 
ent sects met in the parish church for the 
purpose of religious disputation. Officers 
of the Parliament army, after exhorting 
their soldiers in camp-meetings, visited 
the churches and there assumed the role of 
clergymen. One of the tenets of the Inde- 
pendents was that " any gifted brother, if 
he find himself qualified thereto, may in- 
struct, exhort, and preach in the church," 
and laymen constantly had access to the 
pulpit. It was not uncommon for some 
one, after the usual service, to rise in his 
place and proceed with his own exposition 
of the law and the gospel. This was done 
by Episcopal divines as well as by non-con- 
formists. It is on record that, in 1656, Dr. 
Gunning, afterwards Regius Professor of 
Divinity at Cambridge and Bishop of Ely, 
went into the congregation of John Biddle, 
*'the father of English Unitarians," and be- 
gan a dispute with him.^ 

George Fox was a frequent visitor at the 
*' steeple-house." On very rare occasions he 

1 Supplement to Neal, vol. iii. p. 556. 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 5 

imitated the example of the Bishop, but it 
was his custom to wait quietly until the 
minister had ended, Avhen he would often 
be invited to speak. The sects grew and 
multiplied. The enumeration of them as 
classified by Masson i is well worth repro- 
duction. Beside the Papist who was faithful 
to Rome and the Churchman who was loyal 
to the bishops, there were Presbyterians, 
Independents, Baptists or Anabaptists, Old 
Brownists, Antinomians, Familists, Mille- 
naries or Chiliasts, Expecters and Seekers, 
Divorcers, Anti - Sabbatarians, Traskites, 
Soul-Sleepers or jMortalists, Arians, Socini- 
ans and other Anti-Trinitarians, Anti-Scrip- 
turists, Skeptics or Questionists, Atheists, 
Fifth Monarchy Men, Ranters, The ^h\g- 
gletonians, Boehmenists, and Quakers or 
Friends. 

The ferment of religious and irreligious 
speculation was something prodigious. In 
1645 ono Thomas Edwards, a prominent 
Presbyterian, who is described as a '' fluent, 
rancorous, indefatigable, inquisitorial, and, 
on the whole, nasty kind of Christian," pub- 
lished the " Gangra^na," a catalogue one of 
hundred and sevent^'-six miscellaneous "er- 

1 Life of Milton, vol. iii. pp. 14a-lo9; vol. v. pp. 15-28. 



6 THE QUAKER INVASION 

rors, heresies, and blasphemies " of the sec- 
taries, and during the following ten years 
many others might have been added to the 
list. 

Mysticism and materialism, devout piety 
and impious scoffing, noble conceptions and 
shallow theories of liberty, honest self-abne- 
gation and Pecksniffian cant, all found utter- 
ance in the babel of voices that resounded 
through the nation. It was an age when, 
as Milton phrases it, men undertook " to re- 
assume the ill-deputed care of their religion 
into their own hands again." 

Inevitably, in such a transition period, 
fanaticism played a conspicuous part. It 
manifested itself in whipping, scourging, 
mutilation of the bodies of offenders, in long 
imprisonments, — some men and women liv- 
ing for years in noisome and filthy gaols, — 
and in the confiscation and destruction of 
property. Weak minds were unhinged by 
it, and men of strong intellects, and ordi- 
narily of sober j udgment, defended and even 
committed excesses, both in speech and ac- 
tion, that to us, when they do not seem su- 
premely ridiculous, are simply incredible. 

Robert Barclay, author of the well-known 
" Apology," an able " explanation and vin- 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 7 

dication " of Quakerism, was one of the few 
controversial writers of tliat period whose 
books are still read with interest and profit. 
He was the peer of the best scholars, an ad- 
mirable logician, and subtle even to profun- 
dity. A contemporary describes him as a 
man "sound in judgment, strong in argu- 
ment, cheerful in sufferings, of a pleasant 
disposition, yet solid, plain, and exemplary 
in conversation. He was a learned man, a 
good Christian, and able minister, a dutiful 
son, a loving husband, a tender and careful 
father, an easy master, and good, kind neigh- 
bor and friend." 

It taxes our credulity to believe that such 
a man, even in such an age, could, in any 
serious degree, be possessed by the spirit of 
fanaticism, but even as late as 1672, being 
overpowered by a sense of what he con- 
ceived to be religious duty, he walked 
through the streets of Aberdeen covered 
with sack-cloth and ashes. We read with 
a feeling of pity akin to sympathy, his ex- 
planatory address to the people. " I was," 
he says, " commanded of the Lord God . . . 
great was the agony of my spirit ... I be- 
sought the Lord with tears, that tliis cup 
might pass away from me . . . and this 



8 THE QUAKER INVASION 

was the end and tendency of my testimony, 
— to call j'^ou to repentance by tliis signal 
and singular step, which I, as to my own 
will and inclination, was as unwilling to be 
found in, as the worst and most wicked of 
you can be averse from receiving or laying 
it to heart." He further explains that he 
acted " after the manner of some of the an- 
cient prophets, and with similar motives." 
It was accounted a great virtue by the Puri- 
tans to imitate the ancient prophets, and 
they searched their Bibles for names as well 
as for example and divine law. 

Hebrew names were almost as familiar 
to the ears of that generation as the names 
of Patrick and Bridget are to our own. It 
was said that the genealogy of Jesus might 
be learned from the names in CromwelFs 
regiments, and that the muster-master used 
no other list than the first chapter of Mat- 
thew.^ 

In Brome's " Travels," a book published 
in the latter half of the seventeenth century, 
the author, with evident intent to ridicule 
these manifestations of pious enthusiasm, 
professes to have seen the following names 
OQ a jury list in Sussex: "Accepted Tre- 

1 Nciil, vol. iv. p. 9G. 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 9 

vor, Redeemed Compton, Faint-not Hewit, 
Make-Peace Heaton, God-Reward Smart, 
Hope-for Bending, Earth Adams, Called 
Lower, Kill-Sin Pimple, Return Spelman, 
Be-Faitbful Joiner, Fly-Debate Roberts, 
Figbt-tbe-good-Figbt-of-Faith Wbite, More- 
Fruit Fowler, Stand-Fast-on-Higb Stringer, 
Graceful Herding, Weep-not Billing, and 
Meek Brewer." Neal, Hume, and otber 
bistorians accept tbis list as one of genuine 
baptismal names. Forster, in bis " States- 
men of England," recognizes its true cbarac- 
ter, but believes tbat Brome was tbe victim 
of a joke, and tbat be reports tbe names in 
good faitb. It is more probable, bowever, 
tbat be was tbe perpetrator, not tbe victim 
of tbe jest, for after reciting tbe list, be says 
soberly, and as if to justify bis bumor, " I 
myself bave known some persons in London 
and otber parts of tbis kingdom wbo bave 
been cbristianed by tbe names of Faitb, 
Hope, Cbarity, Mercy, Grace, Obedience, 
Endure, and Rejoice," and be migbt bave 
added, Praise-God, for sucb was tbe name 
of a member of Oliver Cromwell's Parlia- 
ment. 

Fanaticism revived old and enacted new 
laws under wbicb cburcbes and catbedrals 



10 THE QUAKER INVASION 

were despoiled with ruthless barbarism : im- 
ages, pictures, painted glass, organs, copes, 
and fonts were mutilated or destroj^ed. 
Frenzied and pious Puritans drove horses, 
swine, and calves into the churches and 
baptized them with mock solemnity. They 
tore up the surplice as a remnant of Baby- 
lon and burned the book of " Common 
Prayer." ^ In the Puritan '^ Anatomy of 
the Service-Booke " we read, " As they are 
altars of Baal, erected and maintained by 
Baalites or Balaamites, so they, and all their 
ceremoniall accoutrements, and the Service- 
Booke itself, are an abomination." The 
Litany is styled, " not the least sinful, but 
rather the most offensive " part of the Lit- 
urgy.2 

Bible phraseology was incorporated into 
ordinary speech; tracts and treatises were 
full of it, orators adopted it, state papers 
and proclamations were embodied in it. 
Scriptural and unscriptural denunciation 
and invective were legitimate w^eapons of 
warfare, and the pens of controversialists 
were often dipped in gall. Not only igno- 
rant and obscure writers, but men conspicu- 

1 Mavsden's Later Puritans, pp. 55-57. Brome, p. 258. 
Coit's Puritanism, p. 61. 

2 Coit, pp. 51-59. 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 11 

Oils for their piety, learning, and refinement-, 
used language bitter, harsh, extravagant, 
and offensive to good taste. The Rev. Dr. 
Daniel Featley, a Presbyterian and a mem- 
ber of the historic Assembly of Divines at 
Westminster, published a tract in 1644, 
entitled " The Dippers dipt ; or the Ana- 
baptists ducked and plunged over head and 
ears at a disputation in Southwark," in 
which he calls the Baptists an idle and sot- 
tisli sect ; a lying and blasphemous sect ; an 
impure and carnal sect ; a bloody and cruel 
sect ; a profane and sacrilegious sect.^ In 
the same year he petitioned the House of 
Lords that John Milton might be cut off 
as a pestilent Anabaptist. 

Prynne ridiculed the church choir in set 
terms. He said, " Choristers bellow the 
tenor, as it were oxen ; bark a counterpart, 
as it were a kennel of dogs ; roar out a 
treble, as it were a sort of bulls ; and grunt 
out a bass, as it were a number of hogs." '^ 

Milton says of the bishops, " they . . . 
shall be thrown down eternally into the 
darkest and deepest gulf of hell . . . the 
trample and spurn of all the other damned 

1 Quoted in Ivimey's Milton, p. 104. 

2 Quoted in Coit'a Puritanism, p. 455. 



12 THE QUAKER INVASION 

. . . shall exercise a raving and bestial tyr- 
anny over tbem . . . they shall remain in 
that plight forever, the basest, the lower- 
most, the most dejected and down-trodden 
vassals of perdition." ^ In his reply to Sal- 
masius, who, in 1649, published a vindica- 
tion of Charles I., he calls him a " pimp " 
and a " starving rascal," and denounces 
him in quaint but vigorous verse thus ; — 

" And in Rome's praise employ liis poisoned breath, 
Who threatened once to stink the Pope to death." 2 

It would be both pleasant and profitable 
to pause a moment to contemplate Puritan- 
ism in its larger and nobler aspect, but it 
has a place in this treatise only so far as 
it relates to Quakerism. The preceding 
sketch of the religious enthusiasm and fa- 
naticism that marked its rise and progress, 
it is hoped, will serve a twofold purpose. 
Though necessarily incomplete, it will aid 
us to a better understanding of the nature 
and significance of the conflict between the 
Founders of Massachusetts and the Qua- 
kers, when w^e come to consider it, and in 
the mean time it will, in a measure, indi- 
cate some of the conditions under which 
Quakerism was developed. 

1 Coit, p. 455. 2 ivimey, p. 146. 



OF MASSACnUSETTS. 13 

George Fox was the founder of the sect. 
Macaulay, utterly unable to understand or 
appreciate this remarkable man, can " see 
no reason for placing him, morally or in- 
tellectually, above Ludowick Muggleton or 
Joanna Southcote." He thinks his intel- 
lect was " too much disordered for liberty, 
and not sufficiently disordered for Bedlam." 
Carlyle, with a deeper insight, recognizes 
in Fox a religious genius and reformer. 
"This man, by trade a shoemaker," he 
says, "was one of those to whom, under 
ruder or purer form, the Divine Idea of 
the Universe is pleased to manifest itself, 
. . . who therefore are rightly accounted 
Prophets, God-possessed. ... Let some 
living Angelo or Rosa, with seeing eye 
and understanding heart, picture George 
Fox on that morning when he spreads out 
his cutting-board for the last time, and cuts 
cowhides by unwonted patterns, and stitches 
them together into one continuous case, the 
farewell service of his awl ! Stitch away, 
thou noble Fox ; every prick of that little 
instrument is pricking into the heart of 
slavery and World-worship, and the Mam- 
mon god. Thy elbows jerk, as in strong 
swimmer's strokes, and every stroke is bear- 



14 THE QUAKER INVASION 

ing thee across the Prison -ditch, within 
which Vanity holds her Work-house and 
Rag-fair, into lands of true Liberty ; were 
the work done, there is in broad Europe 
one Free Man, and thou art he ! " Fox's 
parents were members of the Established 
Church, and were noted for their probity 
and piety. He was born in Leicestershire, 
England, in 1624. His school education 
was limited and insufficient. Very early 
in life he manifested a serious disposition, 
sometimes bordering upon melancholy. His 
pious mother, instead of luring him on to 
the enjoyment of childish sports, encour- 
aged his precocity, and, as a consequence, 
he was never a boy in anything but years. 
The child was father of the man. He was 
honest almost to a fault. He would not re- 
sent an affront, but never flinched in times 
of trial. " Verily," with him, stood for 
protestation and determination, and it was 
a common remark among his companions, 
that, " if George says ' Verily,' there is no 
altering him." At the age of nineteen, and 
for three continuous years, he experienced 
mental suffering that would have unseated 
an intellect less vigorous and rugged. He 
withdrew ivom. all companionship, but was 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 15 

soon made miserable by the reflection that 
he had forsaken his relations. Returning 
home, he spent much of his time in solitary 
meditation and prayer. The Bible was his 
favorite, and almost his only study. His 
condition, he tells us, was often one of ab- 
solute despair. He consulted preachers of 
the various denominations, but found them 
" miserable comforters." He likens them 
to '' an empty, hollow cask." The outcome 
of this mental conflict was the conviction 
that the paramount object of human exist- 
ence is to get into a proper spiritual relation 
with the Creator. The moral faculties are 
to be quickened, the law of Love must gov- 
ern our relations with our fellow-men ; but 
a spiritual oneness with the Deity attained, 
the rest would follow as naturally as light 
follows the rising sun. He learned that 
the divine law is written upon the hearts 
of men ; and that to construe or interpret 
it correctly, he must give heed to the voice 
of God in his own soul. His mission was 
now revealed to him. "I was commis- 
sioned," he says, " to turn people to that 
Inward Light — even that Divine Spirit 
which would lead men to all truth." 

This doctrine of the Liward Li<]:ht was 



16 THE QUAKER INVASION 

the corner-stone upon which Fox build ed 
and upon wliich Quakerism rests. It was 
no new doctrine. Neither Fox nor his as- 
sociates laid claim to a discovery. It was 
older than Christianity itself, but since the 
days of Jesus and his followers, it had been 
a mere theory, subordinate to doctrines em- 
bodied in the creeds. Jesus, in substance, 
taught the same lesson, but the Christian 
Church had forgotten it. Christ had come 
to be God and the Bible, the only revealed 
word. Fox sought to restore primitive 
Christianity by calling upon men not to 
forsake Jesus, but to worship God and to 
realize, in full, the relation to Him implied 
when we call him Father. The epithet, 
heretic, has so often been applied to the 
early Quakers that it is frequently assumed 
that they formally denied and denounced 
theological opinions alleged to be funda- 
mental. This is a serious error. It is true 
they were not creed bound. " Where the 
Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," and 
liberty of conscience, liberty to think and to 
speak, not only found protection in a Quaker 
meeting, but zealous advocates and defend- 
ers wherever a Quaker voice was heard. 
Such liberty inevitably develops variety 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 17 

of opinion, and there was more liititiide 
among the Friends than within the narrower 
limits of other sects. They all, however, be- 
lieved in Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; in 
Christ the Saviour ; in the atonement ; in the 
resurrection ; and in the inspiration of the 
Bible. Nevertheless, they held that " the 
letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life," 
and that to interpret the written word, 
men must be inspired by the Spirit that 
guided the hands of those who wrote it. 
Fox said '' the holy men of God wrote the 
Scriptures as they were moved by the Holy 
Ghost ; and all Christendom are on heaps 
about those Scriptures, because they are 
not led by the same Holy Ghost as those 
were that gave forth the Scriptures ; which 
Holy Ghost they must come to in them- 
selves and be led by, if they come into all 
the truth of them." Barclay, in his " Apol- 
ogy," declares, " We do firmly believe that 
there is no other gospel to be preached, but 
that which was delivered by the apostles. 
. . . We distinguish betwixt a revelation 
of a new gospel and new doctrines, and a 
new revelation of the good old gospel and 
doctrines ; the last we plead for, but the 
first we utterly deny." He is careful, how- 



18 THE QUAKER INVASION 

ever, to maintain the supremacy of the 
Si)irit, and in this connection he assures 
the reader that some of his friends, " who 
not only were ignorant of the Greek and 
Hebrew, but even some of them could not 
read their own vulgar language, wdio being 
pressed by their adversaries wdth some cita- 
tions out of the English translation, and 
finding them to disagree with the manifes- 
tation of truth in their own hearts, have 
boldly affirmed the Spirit of God never 
said so, and that it was certainly w^rong ; 
for they did not believe that any of the 
holy prophets or apostles had ever written 
so; which, when I, on this account, seri- 
ously examined, I really found to be errors 
and corruptions of the translators ; who (as 
in most translations) do not so much give 
us the genuine signification of the words, 
as strain them to express that which comes 
nearest to that opinion and notion they 
have of truth." On another page he says 
the Scriptures " may be esteemed a second- 
ary rule, subordinate to the Spirit, from 
which they have all their excellency and 
certainty ; for as by the inward testimony 
of the Spirit we do alone truly know them, 
so they testify that tlie Spirit is that Guide 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 19 

by which the saints are led into all truth; 
therefore, according to the Scriptures, the 
Spirit is the first and principal leader." 

The famous Kichard Baxter, in a discus- 
sion with some Quakers, referring to this 
Inward Light, asked them, "If all have it, 
why may not I have it ? " And a learned 
Unitarian clergyman of Boston calls this 
" one of his most pertinent questions." If 
so, Baxter must have been sorely pressed 
and at his wit's end for argument, for the 
Quakers could not too strongly urge the 
universality of the Divine Spirit, and their 
response no doubt was, that having it, he 
should heed it. Heed it, friend Baxter, and 
it will lead thee into all truth. The diffi- 
culty lay in his denial of it. 

The logic of this cardinal principle of 
Quakerism led straight to repudiation of 
the authority of an ordained ministry, to 
the withdrawal from church membership, 
and the refusal to pay church tithes. In- 
tellectual training alone cannot fit men to 
be religious teachers. The Spirit of God 
must first illuminate their souls and sanc- 
tify their lives. The Puritans rebelled 
against prelacy, and held in special abhor- 
rence the forms and ceremonies borrowed 



20 THE QUAKER INVASION 

from Rome by the English Church. Com- 
ing mto power, they estabhshed their own 
cliurch and compelled an unwilling people 
to conform to and support it. The Quakers 
probed deeper. They rebelled against prel- 
ate and presbyter alike. They claimed 
not toleration, but liberty of conscience for 
all as an inalienable right ; the}^ demanded 
the absolute separation of Church and 
State; denounced the clergy as priests and 
liirelings, and in spite of fiendish persecu- 
tion refused to acknowledge their authority 
or to contribute so much as a farthing to 
their maintenance. Where the Spirit of 
the Lord is, there is liberty ; and the spirit 
of liberty was infectious. Others as well 
as the Quakers asserted the religious equal- 
ity of men and the sufficiency of the Holy 
Spirit, and with stinging invective exposed 
the pretenses of pious charlatans. In 1658, 
John jMilton, in an address to Parliament, 
said, "For now commonly he that desires to 
be a minister looks not at the work but at 
the wages ... it were much better there 
were not one divine in the university, nor 
no school divinity known ; the idle sophis- 
try of monks, the canker of religion. . . . 
But most of all are they. to be reviled and 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 21 

slmnned who eiy out with tho distinct voice 
of hirelings, that if you settle not our main- 
tenance by laws, farewell the gospel ; than 
which nothing can be more ignominious, 
and, I may say, more blasphemous against 
our Saviour, wlio hath promised without 
this condition both his Holy Spirit and his 
own presence with his church to the world's 
end." He continues, " Of which hireling 
even, together with all the mischiefs, dis- 
sensions, troubles, wars, merely of their own 
kindling, Christendom might soon rid her^ 
self and be happy, if Christians would but 
know their own dignity, their liberty, their 
adoption, and let it not be wondered if I 
say their spiritual priesthood, whereby they 
have all equally access to any ministerial 
fu!ictions whenever called by their own 
abilities and the church, though they never 
came near commencement or university." 

These bold, brave words might well have 
been uttered by Fox, or Burroughs, or 
Tliomas Ellwood, the Quaker reader to the 
blind old poet. 

With remarkable unanimity the early 
Quakers held many views of religious ob- 
ligation that brought them into direct con- 
flict with the civil authorities and social 



22 THE QUAKER INVASION 

usafres. These views were known as " tes- 
timonies," and later, wlien an organization 
was effected, they were incorporated into 
what is known as the Discipline of the So- 
ciety. Church ordinances, baptism, com- 
munion table, prayer-book, were contemned. 
Silent meditation, interrupted only by a 
short prayer or exhortation by one or more 
of them, who, perchance, were moved by 
the Spirit, constituted their only form of 
worship. They substituted simple affirma- 
tion for the oath, defending the innovation 
with apt and telling quotations from Scrip- 
ture. They held meetings for worship, and 
were generally careful to abstain from all 
unnecessary secular emp]o3anent on the first 
day of the week, but they did not regard 
it as especially the *' Lord's day." They 
claimed that " all days are alike holy in 
the sight of God." They regarded the use 
of the plural number in addressing one per- 
son as a species of flattery, and adopted the 
simple thee and thou of the Bible. Your 
Holiness, Your Grace, Your Honor, etc., 
were " flattering titles," and therefore they 
addressed all men by their Christian names 
only. They declared " that it is not lawful 
for Christians to kneel or prostrate them- 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 23 

selves to any man, or to bow the body, or 
to uncover the head to men. That it is not 
lawful for a Christian to use superfluities in 
apparel, as are of no use, save for ornament 
and vanity. That it is not lawful to use 
games, sports, plays, nor, among other things, 
comedies, among Christians, under the no- 
tion of recreations, which do not agree with 
Christian silence, gravity, and sobriety." 
They considered war " an evil as opposite 
and contrary to the Spirit and doctrine of 
Christ as light to darkness," and they would 
not fight. They laid particular emphasis 
upon the sacredness of the married rela- 
tion, nevertheless their bigoted persecutors 
denounced Quaker marriages as illegal until 
in 1661 the courts confirmed the legality of 
such marriages. Even as careful a writer 
as Masson says " they had no religious cere- 
mony in sanction of marriage." ^ Professor 
Masson, as his context proves, had ample 
opportunity to avoid this blunder, and it 
can only be accounted for on the theory 
that his mind is prejudiced by the still pop- 
ular notion that the presence and offices 
of an ordained minister are necessary to 
make a marriage ceremony religious and 

1 Life of Miltoii, vol. v. p. 25. 



24 THE QUAKER INVASION 

to secure the Divine sanction of the nup- 
tial rites. The Quakers thought otherwise. 
They repudiated the chiims of the clergy, 
and believed that God alone can join men 
and women in the solemn covenant. " It 
is their custom," says Sewel, " first having 
the consent of the parents or guardians 
. . . and after due in(juiry, all things ap- 
pearing clear, they in a public meeting sol- 
emnly take each other in marriage, with a 
promise of love and fidelity, and not to 
leave one another before death separates 
them. Of this a certificate is drawn, men- 
tioning the names and distinctions of the 
persons thus joined, which, being first signed 
by themselves, those then that are present 
sign as witnesses." ^ This custom is still 
in force, and, with some unimportant ver- 
bal amendments, the phraseology of early 
Friends is still preserved. After an appro- 
priate silence, the groom and bride rise, and 
taking each other by the hand, each in turn 
repeats, " In the presence of the Lord an^ 
this assembly, I take thee to be my wit) 
(or husband), promising, with Divine assist- 
ance, to be unto thee a loving and faithful 
husband (or wife) until death shall separate 

1 Ilistoru of the QuaTc&i's, vol. ii. p. 408. 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 25 

US." For religious solemnity and tender, 
touching simplicity, tbe Quaker marriage 
ceremony has always challenged compari- 
son, and if any one desires to feel and real- 
ize the presence of God in a public or pri- 
vate gathering, let him attend a Quaker 
wedding. 

One of the most popular slanders current 
is the charge that the early Quakers held 
all civil authority in contempt and were 
willful law-breakers. So far from this, they 
were an eminently law-abiding people, and 
had profound respect for the office of the 
civil magistrate. For the insignia of office 
they had, perhaps, too little regard, but 
for law on which social order and well-be- 
ing depend, they showed a most exemplary 
fidelity. George Fox said, " Magistracy is 
for the praise of them that do well. . . . 
Magistrates are for the punishment of evil- 
doers. . . . We are not against, but stand for 
all good government." Edward Burroughs, 
in 1658, wrote to Richard Cromwell, " As 
for magistracy, it was ordained of God to be 
a dread and terror and limit to evil-doers, 
and to be a defense and praise to all that do 
well, to condemn the guilty and to justify 
the guiltless." In an interview with the 



26 THE QUAKER INVASION 

King, in 1660, Richard Hubberthorn said, 
" Thus do we own magistrates ; whatsoever 
is set up by God, whether king, as supreme, 
or any set in authority by him, who are for 
the punishment of evil-doers, and the praise 
of them that do well, such shall we submit 
unto and assist in righteous and civil things, 
both by body and estate, and if any magis- 
trates do that which is unrighteous, we must 
declare against it, only submit under it by 
a patient suffering and not rebel against 
any by insurrections, j)lots, and contriv- 
ances." Barclay's statement of the attitude 
of the early Quakers toward the civil law 
and the magistracy is equally clear and defi- 
nite. He said, " Since God hath assumed 
to himself the power and dominion of con- 
science, who alone can rightly instruct and 
govern it, therefore it is not lawful for any 
whosoever, by virtue of any authority or 
principality they bear in the government 
of this world, to free the consciences of 
others, . . . providing always, that no man, 
under the pretense of conscience, prejudice 
his neighbor in his life or estate, or do any- 
thing destructive to, or inconsistent witli, 
human society ; in which case the law is for 
tlie transgressor, and justice is to be admin- 



OF MASSACnuSETTS. 27 

istered upon all without respect of persons." 
Perhaps it should be stated here that be- 
cause Barclay was a highly educated gen- 
tleman, and wrote his best known works 
as late as 1673-76, some modern critics in- 
sinuate, if they do not broadly affirm, that 
he does not fairly represent the Quakerism 
of 1656 to 1662. Such criticism is fla- 
grantly unjust. It is alleged that " the 
crude and indigested notions which the 
early Quakers uttered ' in a prophetical 
wa}',' sounded like the wildest rant, to be 
relieved of the reproach of blasphemy only 
by being referred to a besotted stupidity or 
a shade of distraction." ^ With a magician's 
power, Barclay, it seems, transformed dis- 
traction into sobriety. At his touch be- 
sotted stupidity was metamorphosed into a 
wise intelligence, and blasphemy into rev- 
erential religion. This magician, and also 
William Penn, we are informed, " wrought 
out for the Friends a religious system for 
belief and practice, which would do honor 
to any fellowship of Christians at the pres- 
ent time." The simple truth is, that cal- 
umnies almost as harsh as the one just 
quoted, marred the writings of distinguished 

1 Massachusetts and its Early History, p. lOG. 



28 THE QUAKER INVASION 

divines in the seventeenth, as v^ell as in the 
nineteenth centuiy. Barchiy, recognizing 
vital religious truth in the " principles and 
doctrines " contemptuously called " notions " 
by our critic, wrote, not only an "explana- 
tion," but a " vindication " of them. He was 
a warm personal friend and admirer of Fox, 
and was admirably fitted for the task by 
education, sympathy, suffering, experience, 
and knowledge. It would be a difficult task 
for an}' one to show w^ierein the " religious 
system for belief and practice," elaborated 
by him, differs in essential particulars from 
the Quakerism of Fox, or Burroughs, or 
Hubberthorn. There is a striking corre- 
spondence in their opinions concerning social 
duty and the limit of their obligation to 
civil government ; and, bearing in mind the 
fact that they were not anchored to a creed, 
we cannot but be impressed by the har- 
mony of their doctrinal views. But this is 
a digression. The reader w^ho cares to pur- 
sue the matter further should consult Bar- 
clay's " Catechism," his "Anarchy of tlie 
Ranters," and his "Apology." And for 
Penn's testimony as to the " extraordinary 
understanding in divine things," and the 
" admirable fluency and taking way of ex- 



OF MASSACnUSETTS. 29 

pressioii," so characteristic of the " first 
Quakers," one should read his " Rise and 
Progress of the People called Quakers." 

Having noted some of the more salient 
features of Quakerism, we are quite pre- 
pared to believe that in an age of intense 
religious excitement some of its more ar- 
dent professors were victims of religious 
zeal, and occasionally were guilty of acts 
inconsistent with proper decorum. It must 
be added, too, that, when pushed in argu- 
ment, prominent Friends, including Fox and 
Penn, justified some of these acts by throw- 
ing responsibility for them upon the Spirit 
of the Lord. On the other hand, they dis- 
owned James Naylor and others on account 
of their fantastic extravagances. ^ The num- 
ber of Quakers was counted by tens of 
thousands, and at one period forty-two hun- 
dred of them were in the gaols,^ not for any 
crime or misdemeanor, but because of their 
stout defense of liberty and their heroic re- 
sistance to religious tyranny. When driven 
or dragged from their meeting-houses, they 
ai'sembled in the streets ; and when the 

} Sewel's History, vol. i. p. 177. 

3 Janney's Life of Fox, p. -477, and man}^ other Quaker 
histories. 



30 THE QUAKER INVASION 

meeting-houses were torn down they met 
on the ruins, from whence they were driven 
only by personal violence. Many of them 
died in prison and many more suffered long 
imprisonment only to resume their life of 
sacrifice and trial when released. They 
were courageous, aggressive, bold, and un- 
sparing in their denunciation of sin and sin- 
ners, but equally tender-hearted, loving, 
and affectionate. Even women suffering 
the tortures of the lash could kneel and ask 
God to forgive the wretched men who dealt 
the blows.^ 

The name Quaker was applied to them in 
derision, but as indicative of their charac- 
ter and aim, thej^ called themselves Friends. 
When they organized, it was not in order 
to proclaim a creed or to build up a sect, 
but for humane purposes, and, in Fox's 
phraseology, for the " promotion of purity 
and virtue." The only test of membership 
was an habitual attendance at religious 
meetings. If a stranger appeared in thrir 
business meetings and wished to parti cipa.te 
therein, he was asked for a certificate frcm 
Friends of his own town, indorsing, not his 
soundness in doctrine, but his personal 

i Neio England Judged, p. 61. 



OF MASSACriUSETTS. 31 

character. " Tin's precaution," says Fox, 
*' was to previ'iit any bad spirit tliat may 
scandalize honest men, from bringing re- 
proach upon them." 

Questions of policy were not settled by a 
count of noses or a show of hands, but, after 
grave deliberation and conference, by what 
appeared to be the weight or solid judg- 
ment of the assembly. 

Quakerism in its social and moral aspect 
was the synonym for brotherly love, purity, 
simplicity, integrit^^ and benevolence. The 
early Quakers not onl}^ advocated an en- 
lightened revision of the criminal laws and 
a reform in the treatment of prisoners, 
which was then barbarous, but they visited 
the prisons, and sought out and aided the 
poor, the friendless, and the outcasts of so- 
ciety. They literally loved both friend and 
foe. Hated, reviled, and persecuted of men, 
they asked a divine blessing for their bit- 
terest enemies. 



32 THE QUAKER INVASION 



CHAPTER 11. 

THE INVASION. MEASURES OF RESISTANCE 

AND DEFENSE. 

It is believed that numbers of the people 
of the town of Salem, in Massachusetts 
(together with others of the Plj^mouth Col- 
ony), had embraced the tenets of the Qua- 
kers prior to the arrival of some mission- 
aries in 1656, but there is apparently no 
evidence to indicate that they had pro- 
claimed themselves or adopted tlie name of 
the despised sect. Had tlie}^ done so, they 
probably would have been at least named 
iu the recommendation of the Court made 
in May of tlie same year, that " the 11th 
day of June next ... be kept as a public 
day of humiliation, to seek 'the face of God 
in behalf of our native country, in refer- 
euce to the abounding of errors, especially 
tliose of the Ranters and Quakers," ejc. 
This is the first reference to the Friends 
found in the printed official records. When 
it was made, Plymouth Colony had been 



OF .UASSACnUSETTS. 33 

settled thirty-five years, and the Massa- 
chusetts Bay Colony^ a quarter of a cen- 
tury. Roger Williams, who, with all his 
shortcomings, is fairly ranked with the 
apostles of liberty, had been driven into 
exile. Mrs. Ann Hutchinson had been sup- 
pressed and banished. Sir Henry Vane had 
returned to England discouraged and dis- 
heartened. Coddington, one of the founders, 
and afterwards a Quaker, had taken ref- 
uge in Rhode Island, where he enjoyed 
the liberty of conscience denied him here. 
Winthrop had died lamenting the part ho 
had played in persecuting lieresy.^ Sir 
Richai'd Saltonstall, another founder, had 
addressed his famous letter, from England, 
to his old friends, in which he deplored 
their "tyranny and persecution," and be- 
sought tliem '' not to practise those coui^ses 
in a wilderness which you went so far to 
prevent." ^ His advice, it is needless to say, 
was unheeded. John Endicott was Gov- 
ernor, and John Norton the leading minister 

^ George Bishop's Neto England .Iwhjed, p. 220. First 
pii >lishecl in IGGl, reprinted in 10G7, witli addition of a Sec- 
ond Tart. Aftain reprinted in 1702 and bon'nd in one volnme 
with Jolni Whitiii<,^'s Answer to Cotton Mather, etc. For 
references in lliis book, sec the edition of 1702. 

2 JIutch insun Papers, pp. 401-407. 
3 



34 THE QUAKER INVASION 

of the Massachusetts Colony, when the first 
two Quaker visitors arrived, and the poUcy 
of repression found in them the sternest of 
supporters. Ann Austin and Mary Fisher 
came here in a vessel, in July of 1656. The 
laws referriug to Quakers had not yet been 
enacted, and there was no law, human or 
divine, to prohibit their coming here or 
brinsfinoj their books with them. On the 
contrary, the " Bod}^ of the Liberties," en- 
acted in 1641, was a guaranty of ample 
protection by the authorities if they were 
disturbed or molested. The prefatory dec- 
laration reads : " We do therefore, this 
da}^ religiously and unanimously, decree 
and confirm these following rights, liber- 
ties, and privileges, concerning our churches 
and civil state, to be respectively, impar- 
tially, and inviolably, enjoyed and ob- 
served throughout our jurisdiction forever." 
The first and second declarations are as fol- 
lows : — 

"1st. No man's life shall be taken awajs 
no man's honor or good name shall ''3e 
stained, no man's person shall be arrested, 
restrained, banished, dismembered, nor any 
ways punished ; no man shall be deprived of 
his wife or children, no man's goods o\ es- 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 35 

tate shall be taken away from him, nor any- 
way indamaged under color of law or coun- 
tenance of authorit}^ unless it be by virtue 
or equity of some express law of the coun- 
try warranting the same, established by a 
General Court and sufficiently published, 
or in case of the defect of a law in any par- 
ticular case, by the word of God. And in 
capital cases, or in cases concerning dis- 
membering or banishment, according to that 
word to be judged by the General Court." 

" 2d. Every person within tliis jurisdic- 
tion, whether Inhabitant or foreigner, shall 
enjoy the same justice and law that is gen- 
eral for the plantation, which we constitute 
and execute one towards another, without 
partiality or delay." 

In the face of this statute, Endicott being 
out of town, the deputy governor, Richard 
Bellingham, sent officers aboard the ship, 
who searched the baggage of these two pas- 
sengers, and seized their books, which, by 
order of the authorities, were burned by 
the common executioner. The women were 
committed to prison, where they were con- 
fined for five weeks, when they were sent 
back to Barbadoes, the master of tlie ship 
being bound in one hundred pounds to take 



36 THE QUAKER INVASION 

them there, and ordered not to suffer any 
to speak with them after they were put on 
board. It seems that while in gaol they 
used their own beds, which were brought out 
of the ship ; these and their Bibles the 
gaoler confiscated to satisfy his fees. Dur- 
ing their imprisonment no one was allowed 
to visit or to speak with them, and a board 
was nailed up before the window so that 
none might see them ; they were denied all 
writing material, and no lights were per- 
mitted at night. They were so ill-fed or 
so starved, rather, that Nicholas Upsall, a 
church-member and freeman since 1631, 
bribed the gaoler with five shillings a week 
for the privilege of sending them provisions. 
Prior to this humane deed, he, or some 
other person whose lieart had been touched 
by their sufferings, — it was probably Up- 
sall, — had in vain offered to pay the five 
pounds penalty if permitted to visit the 
prisoners. As is usual with official despots, 
Bellingham made some show of legal pro- 
cedure when this severe treatment was or- 
dered. The council was convened, and a 
declaration issued, whei'ein it was said that 
'' there are several laws long since made 
and published in this jurisdiction bearing 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 37 

testimony against heretics and erroneous 
persons," and that Ann Austin and j\Iary 
Fisher, " upon examination are found not 
only to be transgressors of the former hiws, 
but to hold very dangerous, heretical, and 
bhisphemous opinions ; and they do also ac- 
knowledge that they came here purposely 
to propagate their said errors and heresies, 
bringing with them and spreading here sun- 
dry books, wherein are contained most cor- 
rupt, heretical, and blasphemous doctrines 
contrary to the truth of the gospel here pro- 
fessed amongst us. The council, therefore, 
tendering the preservation of the peace 
and truth enjoyed and professed among 
the churches of Christ in this country, do 
hereby order," etc. What very dangerous, 
heretical, and blasphemous opinions tlie pris- 
oners held, we are left to surmise. Quaker 
authorities, however, furnish us a clew. 
They relate that one of the women said 
" thee," to Bellingham, whereupon he said, 
** he needed no more ; now he knew they 
were Quakers." That little magic word 
was sufficient for the chief inquisitor. We 
are assured by one who should be excellent 
authority, that the people of Massachusetts 
were well informed as to the spirit and 



38 THE QUAKER INVASION 

actings of the Quakers and were on the 
watch for them.^ At last they had arrived. 
These two women, it was clear, were Qua- 
kers, and therefore they were heretics and 
blasphemers. It is to be observed that 
without any knowledge whatever of their 
opinions, their arrest was predetermined 
and they were imprisoned before they had 
spoken a word. They were not accused of 
crime, or misdemeanor, or with the utter- 
ance of heresy They were arrested, re- 
strained, and finally banished, solely be- 
cause they were Quakers and had intended 
to disseminate their opinions, if allowed to 
remain here. The magistrates proceeded 
under color of law, it is true, but none the 
less in violation of the fundamental law 
of the colon3\ However, we must not 
overlook the plea set up by some modern 
writers. The council, say these apologists, 
derived their authority from the royal char- 
ter. This document, after expressly provid- 
ing that only such " orders, laws, ordinances, 
instructions, and directions aforesaid, not 
being repugnant to the laws and statutes of 
our realm of England," shall be promul- 
gated, proceeds to invest the government 

1 Massachusetts and its Early Ilistonjj p. 109. 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 39 

with tlie war power. It provides " that it 
shall and may be lawfid to and for the 
chief commanders, governors, and officers 
. . . for their special defense and safety, 
to encounter, expulse, repel, and resist by 
force of arms, as well by sea as by land, 
and by all fitting ways and means whatso- 
ever, all such person and persons as shall 
at any time hereafter attempt or enterprise 
the destruction, invasion, detriment, or an- 
noyance to tlie said plantation or inhab- 
itants ; and to take and surprise by all 
ways and means whatsoever, all and every 
such person and persons, with their ships, 
armor, munition, and other goods, as shall 
in hostile manner invade or attempt the de- 
feating of the said plantation, or the hurt 
of the said company and inhabitants." We 
are assured that " through letters from 
friends at home," and their own familiarity 
with " the abounding pamphlets of relig- 
ious controversy of these days," the Puri- 
tans were apprised of the dark designs of 
these two desperate and warlike Amazons, 
Avho in hostile bonnets and gowns had 
invaded Boston harbor. To be sure the 
Quaker books they brought with them gave 
the lie to the letters from England, but 



40 THE QUAKER INVASION 

what need to read them? One of the dread- 
ful women had said " thee " to the deputy- 
governor, and her arrest prior to this her 
declaration of war was thus amply justified. 
The enemy had been surprised, " as well 
by sea as by land ; " the invaders had been 
captured, and for a time, at least, the colony 
was safe. But could punishment too severe 
be meted out to such dangerous captives ? 
John Endicott thought not ; so he wrote a 
letter from Salem saying that had he been 
at home he would have had them well 
whipped. An ordeal far more terrible than 
scourging awaited them. By official order 
these two defenseless wotnen were literally 
stripped of their clothing, and their bodies 
were examined for witch marks in a man- 
ner too indecent to be named.^ If any one 
cares to know all that this implies, let him 
consult the Winthrop papers, vol. ii. p. 
397, where he will find a narrative in de- 
tail of similar infliction upon the bod}^ of 
Margaret Jones, in the year 1648. The 
recital is too disgusting and sickening to 
be repeated. The treatment of that poor 
woman was inexcusable, but it was just and 
honorable as compared with the treatment 
of Ann Austin and Mary Fisher. 

^ Neto England Judged^ p. 12. 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 41 

Before Margaret Jones was arrested she 
had aroused the superstitious fears of the 
community. She had " a malignant touch, 
as many persons (men, women, and chil- 
dren) when she stroked . . . were taken 
with deafness ... or sickness. She, prac- 
tising physic, . . . her medicines were harm- 
less, as anise-seed, liquors, etc., yet had ex- 
traordinary violent effects. . . . Some things 
wliich she foretold, came to pass accord- 
ingly." During her trial these alarming 
facts were duly proved to the jury, and she 
was found guilty of witchcraft and hanged 
for it. Governor Winthrop further narrates 
that " the same day and hour she was ex- 
ecuted, there was a very great tempest at 
Connecticut which blew down many trees," 
etc. Though nothing can palliate the re- 
volting torture to which she was subjected, 
nor justify the final punishment, it may be 
urged that in view of her practices a su- 
perstitious people might be pardoned for 
putting her under restraint. Her predic- 
tions, her stroking, and her potions had ter- 
rified the neighbors, and judging from the 
record, she was arrested and tried, in obe- 
dience to public sentiment. No sucli plea 
can be entered in the case of Ann Austin 



42 THE QUAKER INVASION 

and Mary Fislier. They practiced no mys- 
teries; tliey never had so much as a chance 
to speak to man, woman, or child of Bos- 
ton ; they were not transgressors of any law- 
There is nothing in the whole history of 
their case to relieve the blackness of the di- 
abolical crime of which thej^ were the vic- 
tims. And yet a vice-president of the Mas- 
sachusetts Historical Society tells us that 
the advent of the Quakers here began in 
" comedy " ! On the contrary, the advent 
of the Quakers upon the soil of Massachu- 
setts was marked by ghastly, grim tragedy 
far more terrible than the subsequent hang- 
ing of other Quakers, for it involved a liv- 
ing death, more to be dreaded than the gal- 
lows. 

A few weeks after the enforced departure 
of Ann Austin and Mary Fisher, another 
vessel anchored in the harbor with nine 
Quakers aboard. They were immediately 
arrested and were imprisoned for about 
eleven weeks, when they were sent awa}^ 
in the ship that brought them, the master 
of the ship having been compelled by an 
arbitrary imprisonment to give security to 
take them to England at his own charge. 
The women were spared the shocking 



OF MASSACnUSETTS. 43 

witchcraft ordeal, and apparently starvation 
was not attempted, but otherwise these 
Friends were subjected to the same severe 
treatment as their predecessors. During 
their confinement Governor Endicott bul- 
lied them with threats of hanging. *^ Take 
heed," he said to them, ''ye break not 
our ecclesiastical laws, for then ye are sure 
to stretch by a halter." It was charged 
that they were guilty of " turbulent and 
contemptuous behavior to authority," but 
Bishop, a con tern porar^^ whose integrity 
is not questioned by any one, pronounces 
this a " calumny forged out of your own 
and the brains of your priests." That it 
was a false charge is probable, for in the 
same Declaration, referring to Ann Austin, 
Mary Fisher, and these men and women, the 
authorities mendaciously assert that their 
" persons were only secured to be sent away 
the first opportunity, without censure or 
punishment." Without censure or punish- 
ment ! The father of lies mio^ht well be 
staggered by such a shameless falsehood. 

Early Friends, as has been shown, had 
profound respect for authority leavened 
with justice, but when officials degraded it 
and themselves by acts of cruel tyranny, 



44 THE QUAKER INVASION 

tliey were prompt to resist and to rebuke. 
In the present case it is quite possible that 
some of the prisoners spoke their minds 
freely to their oppressors when opportunity 
offered. One of them, Mary Prince, it is 
alleged, saluted Endicott as he passed the 
gaol on his way to church, with such epi- 
thets as "vile oppressor," and " tyrant," and 
foretold that the Lord would "smite" him. 
It is also said that when the ministers in- 
terviewed her, she reproached them as 
" hirelings, Baal's priests," etc. Grant the 
correctness of these reports. Who does 
not honor the brave woman, the victim of 
Endicott's tyranny, for defying him with 
the simple truth ? Who can censure her 
for refusing with contempt and righteous 
indignation the proffered offices of sancti- 
monious ministers who satirized the words 
of Jesus, " I was in prison, and ye came 
unto me," by visiting her to convict her of 
heresy and blasphem}^ and with insuffera- 
ble imperiousness to urge upon her the in- 
fallibility of their own superstitious dog- 
mas ? 

The next act in this tragedy of errors 
was performed while these nine Quakers 
were still in gaol, but before any others had 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 45 

arrived and before any of the residents had 
avowed the Quaker name and faith. On 
the 14th day of October, 1656, the General 
Court enacted the first of a series of dis- 
graceful laws, aimed exclusively at tlie 
Quakers.! It begins, " Whereas there is a 
cursed sect of heretics lately risen up in the 
world, which are commonly called Qua^ 
kers," etc. This insulting vituperation is a 
fit inaugural to their bloody work, and aptly 
enough it is followed by monstrous calumny. 
Their victims have given them no cause for 
condemnation, and as they are the only 
Quakers with whom they have as yet dealt, 
they are forced, as we shall see, to trump 
up the alleged misdeeds of Friends in Eng- 
land, and to utilize the slanders culled from 
letters and controversial writings, in order 
to justify their charges. It is true that on 
another and later occasion they declare, 
" we were well assured by our own expe- 
rience, as well as by the example of their 
predecessors in jNIunster,'' that it was the 
" design " of these prisoners '' to undermine 
and ruin the peace and order '' of the col- 
ony ; but the assertion is an afterthought 
unsustained by evidence, and is as gross a 

1 See Appendix, p. 133. 



46 THE QUAKER INVASION 

calumny as the one with which it is coupled. 
The Quakers were as innocent of the Mun- 
ster iniquities, which, by the way, occurred 
in the preceding century, as the Puritans 
themselves. The preamble to this law con- 
tinues : " who take upon them to be im- 
mediately sent of God, and infallibly as- 
sisted by the Spirit to speak and write 
blasphemous opinions, despising government 
and the order of God in church and com- 
monwealth, speaking evil of dignities, re- 
proaching and reviling magistrates and min- 
isters, seeking to turn the people from the 
faith and gain proselytes to their pernicious 
ways, this Court, taking into serious consid- 
eration the premises, and to prevent the like 
mischief as by their means is wrought in our 
native land, doth hereby order," etc. These 
calumnies are repeated under various forms 
in the text of subsequent laws, and were 
evidently relied upon to create a public sen- 
timent thatwould justify the judicial crimes 
premeditated. After again denouncing the 
" blasphemous heretics," the law provides 
heavy penalties for ship-masters and others 
who may be convicted of bringing Quakers 
to the colony. Next, it is ordered, that 
Quakers coming within the jurisdiction 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 47 

" shall be forthwith committed to the house 
of correction, and at their entrance to be 
severely whipped, and by tlie master thereof 
be kept constantly to work, and none suf- 
fered to converse or speak with them dur- 
ing the time of their imprisonment, which 
shall be no longer than necessity requireth/' 
Quaker books or '* writings concerning their 
devilish opinions *' are next interdicted, and 
persons who defend said books or opinions 
are fined, for the first offense forty shillings ; 
for the second offense four pounds, and for 
the third offense they are first imprisoned 
and then banished. Lastly, it is " ordered, 
that what person or persons soever shall re- 
vile the office or person of magistrates or 
ministers, as is usual with the Quakers, 
such person or persons shall be severely 
whipped, or pay the sum of five pounds." 

This formal declaration of war against 
the Quakers was proclaimed in the streets 
of Boston by beat of drum. Nicholas Up- 
sall,^ of whom mention has already been 
made, was proprietor of the Red Lyon Inn, 
and hearing the act read before his own 
door, said, " that he did look at it as a sad 

1 For biography see The N. E. Historical and Genealogi' 
cat RegisUr for January, 1880. 



48 THE QUAKER INVASION 

forerunner of some heavy judgment to fall 
on the country." 

The authorities, hearing of this, quickly 
availed themselves of the opportunity to 
make perfectly clear what was meant by 
such terms as " reproaching honored mag- 
istrates/' They summoned Upsall before 
the court the next morning, where he, " in 
much tenderness and love," warned them 
" to take heed lest ye should be found fight- 
ers against God." He was fined twenty 
pounds, Endicott saying, "I will not bate 
him one groat." He was then banished, 
with orders to depart in thirty days, four 
of which he spent in gaol, and before leav- 
ing he was fined three pounds more for not 
going to church. 

On the 14th of October, 1657, a second 
law was enacted, the vituperation and revil- 
ing " usual " with the Puritan authorities 
being a prominent feature of the text. It 
provided for the forfeiture of one hundred 
pounds by any one who knowingly brought 
a Quaker into the jurisdiction, and imposed 
a fine of forty shillings for every hour's en- 
tainment of a Quaker by any resident. It 
further ordered that any Quaker man pre- 
suming to come into the jurisdiction after 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 49 

having once suffered what the law require th, 
" shall for the first offense have one of his 
ears cut off . . . and for the second offense 
sliall have his other ear cut off . . , and 
every woman Quaker that hath suffered the 
law here, that shall presume to come into 
this jurisdiction, shall be severely whipped 
. . . and so also for her coming again she 
shall be alike used as aforesaid ; and for 
every Quaker, he or she, that shall a third 
time herein again offend, they shall have 
their tongues bored through with a hot iron. 
. . . And it is further ordered that all and 
every Quaker arising from amongst our- 
selves shall be dealt with and suffer the like 
punishment as the law provides against for- 
eign Quakers." ^ 

On the 19th of May, 1658, for a third 
time the General Court issued its decree 
against the Friends, forbidding, under se- 
vere penalties, the holding of meetings or 
attendance at meetings. This law, also, is 
well flavored with the usual reviling and 
calumny.2 

On the 19th of October, 1658, the Court 
enacted the fourth law, in which they incor- 
porated Endicott's threat, " take heed ye 

1 Sec Appendix, p. 13G. 2 gee Ai)pemlix, p. 137. 

4 



50 THE QUAKER INVASION 

break not our ecclesiastical laws, for then 
ye are sure to stretch by the halter." The 
preamble not only recites the old list of 
calumnies, but lengthens it with fresh slan- 
ders. It is followed by an order banishing 
both visiting and resident Quakers upon 
pain of death if they return. Very prop- 
erly this order is amply padded with Puri- 
tan railing and abuse. 

On May 11, 1659, by a special order, the 
county treasurers were authorized to sell 
Daniel and Provided Southwicke, son and 
daughter to Lawrence Southwicke,^ to any 
of the English nation at Virginia or Bar- 
badoes, to satisfy the fines imposed upon 
them '' for siding with the Quakers and 
absenting themselves from the public ordi- 
nances." 2 

Edmund Batter, the treasurer of Salem, 
undertook to carry out this order. He 
was a foul-mouthed villain who reveled in 
assaults upon defenseless men and wom- 
en, and who was never so happy as when 
engaged in hunting down the Quakers. 
Pages might be filled with a recital of his 
infamous deeds as they are recounted by 
Bishop, but he shall speak for himself, as 

1 See Appendix, p. 174. 2 gee Appendix, p. 175. 



OF MASSAC nUSETTS. 51 

Ills own recorded confession sufficiently in- 
dicates his character. It may prove an in- 
structive study to those modern writers who 
note every expression of righteous indigna- 
tion uttered by the Quakers, and roll it as a 
sweet morsel under the tongue, meanwhile 
remembering to forget the invective and 
railing of the Puritans. 

In the unpublished county court records 
at Salem, there is the following entry under 
date " 26th 4mo. 1660." '' Mr. Edmund 
Batter being presented to tliis Court for 
saying that Elizabeth Kitchin had been a 
pawawing and calling her base quaking slutt 
with divers other oprobious and taunting 
speeches, the presentment being not fully 
proved (he confest that he said to the said 
Elizabeth) either have you beene, or she had 
beene a pawawing and did say to her she 
was a quaking slutt (meeting of her betimes 
in the morning comeing as he supposed 
from a quaker meeting, seeing also soni 
other persons that waies afected) comeing 
that waye which she came, is by the Court 
admonished and to pay fees of Court 30s." 

Innocent women were stripped to the 
waist and thus exposed to public gaze, were 
beaten watli stripes until the blood ran 



bZ TEE QUAKER INVASION 

down their bare backs and bosoms ; the ears 
of men were cut off and the bodies of men 
were beaten to a jelly, for attending Quaker 
meetings and for testifying against "your 
bloody and cruel laws ; " but cowardly bul- 
lies and blackguards, such as Edmund Bat- 
ter, when they insulted Quaker women, were 
only admonished and obliged to pay court 
fees ; nor did their indecency prevent their 
being honored church-members and trusted 
officials in the Puritan commonwealth, 
which we are taught to believe was, par ex- 
cellence, the stronghold of piety and moral- 

This Edmund Batter hunted in vain for 
a ship- master mean enough to sail freighted 
with human victims for a Virginia market. 
One captain, being approached, " to try 
Batter, said, — that they would spoil all the 
vessel's company," whereupon he replied, 
with a testimony to the inoffensive char- 
acter of the Quakers, rarely extorted from 
Puritan lips. He said to the ship-captain, 
" Oh, you need not fear that, for they are 
poor harmless creatures and will not hurt 
anybody." "Will they not so? (said the 
ship-master) and will ye offer to make slaves 
of so harmless creatures?" Whittier has 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 53 

immortalized this scene by rendering the 
captain's answer in the following lines : — 

" Pile my ship with bars of silver, — pack with coins of Span- 
ish gold, 
From keel-piece up to deck-plank, the roomai^e of her hold, 
By the living God who made me ! — I would sooner in your 

bay 
Sink ship and crew and cargo, than bear this child away ! " 

On the 22d of May, 1661, finding the 
hanmnor business had been somewhat over- 
done, the Court, with the customary cal- 
umny and vindictive epithet, enacted a new 
statute, wherein it is ordered that Quakers, 
both men and women, are to " be stripped 
naked from the middle upwards, and tied 
to a cart's tail and whipped through the 
town ; " also to "be branded with the let- 
ter R on their left shoulder," and " the 
constables of the several towns are em- 
powered ... to impress cart, oxen, and 
other assistance for the execution of this or- 
der." 1 The author of " The New England 
Tragedies in Prose " probably wrote his 

1 See Appendix, p. 141. The persistent slander of the 
Quakers is well illustrated by the terms of this law, in which 
the Friends are described as "vagabonds." The history of 
Friends, the world over, from the rise of the Society down to 
the present day, does not afford a single instance of Quaker 
pauperism or vagrancy. Neither the Colony nor the State 
of Jfassachusetts was ever asked to spend one shilling fur the 
beuelit of a Quaker. 



5-4 THE QUAKER INVASION 

narrative under the full conviction tbiit his 
treatment of the Quakers is very magnan- 
imous, and his criticism of the Puritans 
sufficiently severe ; but in common with 
several other apologists, he manifests an 
ignorance concerning the real mission and 
character of the Quakers, combined with 
an acquired or hereditary bias in favor of 
the Puritans, by which Jie is emphatically 
disqualified for rendering impartial judg- 
ment. In alluding to the passage and the 
enforcement of the inhuman law, of which 
the pivotal sentence has just been quoted, 
he says, with unconscious iron}^, " as the 
clemency of the rulers began its gentler 
sway, for a time, at least, the vehemence 
of the disturbers seemed to increase." A 
Daniel come to judgment ! Adopting the 
prejudiced opinions of the historian Palfrey, 
he believes that "seldom have enthusiasts 
been more coarse, more unfriendly, more 
wild and annoying than the early Friends." 
His sympathy for the persecuted Puritans 
is so aroused that, for the moment, the 
spirit of old John Norton seems to possess 
him. With the vision of an innocent wom- 
an stripped to the waist, hauled from town 
to town, and flogged as she is dragged along 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 55 

at tho cart's tail, — with this brutal sight 
in his mind's eye, he commends " the clem- 
ency of the rulers," and, with implied sur- 
prise, notes that under its " gentler sway " 
the vehemence of the disturbers seemed to 
increase. Such wretched twaddle is more 
than discreditable. It is puerile ; and yet 
it passes for historical criticism. 

On the 27th of November, 1661, in obe- 
dience to an order from Charles II., King of 
England, to whom the Friends had applied 
for relief, the Court ordered " that the ex- 
ecution of the laws in force against Quakers, 
as such, so far as they respect corporal pun- 
ishment or death, be suspended until this 
court take further order ; " ^ but on the 8th 
of October, 1662, their fear of the King be- 
ing allayed, they reenacted the law of May, 
1661, with an amendment providing that 
" the whipping be but through three towns ; 
and the magistrates . . . shall appoint both 
the towns and the number of the stripes in 
each town to be given." 

1 For this famous " King's Missive," and brief comment, 
see Appendix, pp. 188-191. 



56 THE QUAKER INVASION 



CHAPTER III. 



THE WARFARE. 



We have now passed in review the Pu- 
ritan legislation against the Quakers during 
the six years of the reign of terror.^ The 
story of its vigorous enforcement stains the 
saddest page of our early history, — not 
even excepting the witchcraft delusion, that, 
at a later day, swept through the colony. 
Incredible as the narration seems to us, no 
one suspects that the sufferers or the Qua- 
ker historians are guilty of exaggeration. 

The tongue boring and the branding pen- 
alties were not resorted to in this colony,^ but 
three victims had their right ears cut off, 
and four suffered the death penalty. The 
number of homes broken up by banishment 
and the extent of the impoverishment of 
families by confiscation of property have yet 
to be computed. Nor is it known how many 

1 For subsequent legislation, etc., see Appendix, pp. 191, 
192. 

2 In the Now Haven Colony, Humphrey Norton was branded 
" II " (Heresy) in the hand. 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 57 

scourgings were inflicted. Dr. Ellis thinks 
that about thirty victims had suffered whip- 
pings by order of the General Court alone, 
and many more from local courts, prior to 
the passage of the "vagabond law " in May, 
1661, and it is well known that a carnival 
of cruelty followed the enactment of that 
law. 

To the credit of the people of the colony 
it should be said that the passage of these 
laws and their merciless enforcement were 
not sustained by public opinion. It is true 
that in October, 1658, a petition,^ signed 
by twenty-five citizens, asked for severer 
laws against the Quakers, but there is good 
reason for believing that it was instigated 
by John Norton and other ministers. It 
did not represent the sentiments of the com- 
munity. Kemembering the fate of Nicholas 
Upsall, it would have been hazardous for 
any one to circulate or present a counter pe- 
tition ; nevertheless, there were times when 
public indignation was with difficulty re- 
strained from manifesting itself by open re- 
volt. This was notably true in the early 
part of 1658, when the barbarous treatment 
of William Brend by his gaoler was noised 

1 See Appendix, p. 153. 



58 THE QUAKER INVASION 

abroad. To quell the rising turmoil, and 
to appease an exasperated people, the au- 
thorities publicly promised to punisb the 
gaoler; but Brend, whose life for a time 
hung by a thread, recovered, and the tu- 
mult subsiding, the insincerity of the mag- 
istrates was revealed. Their promise was 
broken, the gaoler retained his office, and 
his barbarity was applauded b}^ pious John 
Norton. 

The law ordering banishment upon pain 
of death had been passed with difficulty, 
and by a bare majority of one vote. 

In October, 1659, when William Robin- 
son, Marmaduke Stevenson, and Mary Dyer 
were sentenced to death, militar^^ precau- 
tions were taken to prevent an outbreak. 
A conception of the fears of the magis- 
trates and the excitement of the populace 
is possible, when we remember that the 
population of Boston was, at the most, but 
a few thousands ; and then read in the offi- 
cial record that the prisoners were escorted 
to the gallows by " Captain James Oli- 
ver, with one hundred soldiers, completely 
armed with pike, and musketeers, with 
powder and bullet." A drummer marched 
in advance of the condemned prisoners, and 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 59 

when either of them attempted to speak, 
the drum was beaten. During the execu- 
tion tliirty-six soldiers were posted about 
the town as sentinels, to preserve the peace. 
Prior to the execution it was " ordered that 
the selectmen of Boston shall . . . press 
ten or twelve able and faithful persons, 
every night during the sitting of this court, 
to watch with great care the town, espe- 
cially the prison," etc. Evidently a rescue 
was feared. At the same sitting of the 
court two declarations were issued. One of 
them is a long document largely devoted to 
a scriptural refutation of Quaker doctrines.^ 
The other is mainly composed of a string 
of calumnies designed to inflame the people 
against the Friends. Both of them appeal 
to the religious prejudices and bigotry of 
the colony, and were evidently published 
under the fear of righteous retribution by 
an outraged community. Even stern John 
Endicott scented danger, and hastened to 
vindicate the court from " the clamorous 
accusation of severity." 

The authorities professed that they were 
reluctant to execute the Quakers, and it is 
true that at the solicitation of her son a 

1 See Appendix, pp. 143-152. 



60 THE QUAKER INVASION 

reprieve was granted to Mary Dyer, by 
which her life was spared, only to be taken, 
however, upon her subsequent visit to the 
colony. It is very evident that they were 
determined to make an example of Robin- 
son and Stevenson, for they turned a deaf 
ear to the earnest entreaties of their more 
enlightened neighbors. John Winthrop, 
Governor of Connecticut, said he would 
beg them on his bare knees not to execute 
the law ; and Colonel Temple said to the 
court that if they really '' desired their 
lives absent rather than their deaths pres- 
ent, he would beg them of you, and carry 
them away at his own charge . . . and if 
any of them should come amongst ye again 
he would again fetch them at his own 
charge." ^ This proposition was favorably 
received by most of the magistrates ; but 
the stronger wills of a few leading officials 
overcame all opposition, and the order for 
the execution was confirmed. 

When Wenlock Christison, who is errone- 
ously represented as having recanted,^ was 

1 New England Judged^ pp. 157-158. 

2 See The Memorial History of Boston, p. 187. A fac- 
simile of Christison's letter is given on page 188. "I, the 
condemned man, do give forth under m}- hand, that if I may 
have my liberty I liave freedom to depart this jurisdiction, 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 61 

convicted, the court deliberated for two 
weeks before a verdict of guilty was ob- 
tained. Even then it was only through the 
indomitable will of Endicott that a sentence 
of death was secured. His more humane 
comrades faltered, hesitating to add an- 
other judicial murder to their list of crimes, 
whereupon Endicott lost his temper, and, 

and I know not tliat ever I shall come into it any more." 
By "freedom to depart," a mode of expression which is 
peculiar to Friends even at the present day, the prisoner un- 
doubtedl}' meant that having obeyed the call of sacred duty 
by coming here and testifying against the murder of his friend 
William Leddra (who had been executed in March, lOGl), 
nothing further was required of him at the time. lie had 
no vainglorious wish to suffer martyrdom, but was subject to 
the will of the Lord, and would lay down his life when it 
was required of him. What the Divine leading might be here- 
after, he could not foretell. If it took him to Boston, the mag- 
istrates would see him again, but if not, he had no desire to 
renew their acquaintance. Instead of "showing the white 
feather," as the Rev. Mr. Dexter sneeringly puts it in his 
book, As to Roger Williams, Christison was courageously 
faithful to duty as it Avas revealed to him. For such a man 
it was harder to retreat and by so doing subject himself to the 
charge of cowardice, than it was to face death. His whole 
life, so far as it is known, sustains this theory. The fact that 
he did return into the jurisdiction and suffer further violence 
from the hands of the same officials is sutlicient refutation of 
the charge of recantation so carelessly made by several writ- 
ers. Had he obtained his release by a promise not to return, 
the promise would have been kept, for in spite of an exagger- 
ated manner of speech charged upon the early Friends, even 
their n\ost bitter detractors will concede that their word was 
as inviolate as the judicial oaths of other men. 



62 THE QUAKER INVASION 

flinging something fimously upon the table, 
wished himself back in England, and said, 
" You that will not consent, record it ; I 
thank God I am not afraid to give judg- 
ment ; " he then, amid confusion, '' pre- 
cipitately pronounced judgment himself." 
This impetuous and relentless inquisitor was 
eventually obliged to stay his hand from 
further murder, and to satisfy his craving 
for Quaker blood by drawing it from the 
backs and breasts of helpless women. ^ 

The story of William Brend's sufferings, 
as related by Sewel, admirably illustrates 
the extreme cruelty of the officials, the un- 
yielding determination of the authorities, 
and the disapproving public sentiment that 
extensively prevailed. He says : '' In the 
latter part of the Fifth months, [1658], it 
came to pass, that William Brend and AVil- 
liam Leddra, having been at Salem, came to 
Newbury ; where at the house of one Robert 
Adams they had a conference with the 
priest, in the presence of Captain Gerisli, 
who had promised that they should not suf- 
fer ; but after the conference was ended, the 
captain would not let them go, but on prom- 

1 When the executioner whipped Ann Coleman "he split 
the nipple of her breast, which so tortured her that it had al- 
most cost her life." New EiujUuul Jadyed^ p. 430. 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 63 

ise presently to depart the town ; which be- 
ing loth to comply with, as they were on 
their way, they were sent for back, and 
Captain Gerish riding after them, com- 
manded them to return ; which they refus- 
ing, he compelled them thereunto, and sent 
them with a constable to Salem ; where, 
being brought before the magistrates, they 
were asked ' whether they were Quakers ? ' 
to which they answered, ' that they were 
such that were in scorn called so.' Next it 
was objected to them ' that they maintained 
dangerous errors.* The}^ asking what these 
errors were, it was told them, 'that they not 
only denied that Christ at Jerusalem had 
suffered on the cross, but also that they de- 
nied the Holy Scriptures.' They boldly 
contradicted this, and said ' they owned no 
other Jesus but he that had suffered death 
at Jerusalem, and that they also owned the 
Scriptures.' Now although nothing could 
be objected against this, yet they were car- 
ried to the house of correction, as such who, 
according to the law made at Boston, might 
not come into those parts. Some days after 
they were carried to Boston, where in the 
next month they were brought into the 
house of correction to work there. But 



64 THE QUAKER INVASION 

they, unwilling to submit thereto, the gaoler, 
who sought his profit from the work of his 
prisoners, would not give them victuals, 
though they offered to pay for them. But 
he told them ' it was not their money but 
their labor he desired.' Thus he kept them 
five days without food, and then with a 
three-corded whip gave them twenty blows. 
An hour after he told them ' they might go 
out, if they would pay the marshal that was 
to lead them out of the country.' They 
judging it very unreasonable to pay money 
for being banished, refused this, but yet said 
' that if the prison-door was set open, they 
would go away.' The next day the gaoler 
came to Wm. Brend, a man in years, and 
put him in irons, neck and heels so close to- 
gether, that there was no more room left 
between each, than for the lock that fast- 
ened them. Thus he kept him from five 
in the morning till after nine at night, be- 
ing the space of sixteen hours. The next 
morning he brought him to the mill to 
work, but Brend refusing, the gaoler took 
a pitched rope about an inch thick, and 
gave him twenty blows over his back and 
arms, with as much force as he could, so 
that the rope untwisted, and then going 



OF MASSACHUSETTS, 65 

away, he came again with another rope 
that was thicker and stronger, and told 
Brend, ' that he would cause him to bow to 
the law of the country, and make him work.' 
Brend judged this not only unreasonable in 
the highest degree, since he had committed 
no evil, but he was also altogether unable 
to work ; for he wanted strength for want 
of food, having been kept five days without 
eating, and whipped also, and now thus un- 
mercifully beaten with a rope. Bat this in- 
human gaoler relented not, but began to 
beat anew with his pitched rope on this 
bruised body, and foaming at his mouth 
like a madman, with violence laid four-score 
and seventeen blows more on him, as other 
prisoners, that beheld it with compassion, 
have told ; and if his strength and his rope 
had not failed him, he would have laid on 
more ; he threatened also to give hiui the 
next morning as many blows more. But a 
higher power, who sets limits even to the 
raging sea, and hath said, ' Hitherto shalt 
thou come, but no further,' also limited this 
butcherly fellow, who was yet impudently 
stout enough to say his morning-prayer. To 
what a most terrible condition these blows 
brought the body of Brend, (who because 



QQ THE QUAKER INVASION 

of the great heat of the weather, had noth- 
ing but a serge cassock upon his shirt) may 
easily be conceived ; his back and arms were 
bruised and bhick, and the blood hanging 
as in bags under his arms ; and so into one 
was his flesh beaten, that the sign of a par- 
ticular blow could not be seen ; for all was 
become as a jelly. His body being thus 
cruelly tortured, he lay down upon the 
boards, so extremely weakened, that the 
natural parts decaying, and strength quite 
failing, his body turned cold : there seemed 
as it were a struggle between life and 
death ; his senses were stopped, and he had 
for some time neither seeing, feeling, nor 
hearing, till at length, a divine power pre- 
vailing, life broke through death, and the 
breath of the Lord was breathed into his 
nostrils. Now the noise of this cruelty 
spread among the people in the town, and 
caused such a cry, that the governor sent 
his surgeon to the prison, to see what might 
be done ; but the surgeon found the body 
of Brend in such a deplorable condition, 
that, as one without hopes, he said, 'his 
flesh would rot from off his bones, ere the 
bruised parts could be brought to digest.' 
This so exasperated the people that the 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 67 

magistrates, to prevent a tumult, set up a 
paper on their meeting-liouse door, and up 
and down the streets, as it were to show 
their dislike of this abominable and most 
barbarous cruelty ; and said, the gaoler 
should be dealt wdthal the next court. But 
this paper was soon taken down again upon 
the instigation of the high priest, John Nor- 
ton, who having from the beginning been a 
fierce promoter of the persecution, now did 
not stick to say, ' W. Brend endeavored to 
beat our gospel-ordinances black and blue ; 
if he then be beaten black and blue, it is 
but just upon him ; and I will appear in his 
behalf that did so.' It is therefore not 
much to be wondered at, that these precise 
and bigoted magistrates, who would be 
looked upon to be eminent for piety, were 
so cruel in persecuting, since their chief 
teacher thus wickedly encouraged them to 
it." 

Further evidence of the advanced civil- 
ization of the people, as contrasted with the 
inhumanity of the ministers and magis- 
trates, might be cited, but as this fact is 
generally conceded, even by very partisan 
writers, it is unnecessary to pursue the sub- 
ject further. It may be well to suggest, 



68 THE QUAKER INVASION 

however, that had the right of suffrage 
been extended to all citizens of character 
and good repute, instead of being limited to 
church-members, it is probable there would 
have been an infusion of true religion and 
humanity into the laws, and the colony- 
would have been spared the tragic record 
which now mars its history. 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 69 



CHAPTER IV. 

CHARACTER AND CONDUCT OF THE INVADERS. 

MODERN REVIEWERS REVIEWED. 

There are some facts and more fancies 
in which popular writers believe they find 
not only the casus belli between the Pu- 
ritans and Quakers, but also great pallia- 
tion and partial justification for the perse- 
cution involved therein. At the outset we 
are met with the assertion that the Qua- 
kers had no right to come here, and that the 
right to prohibit their coming was com- 
plete. The simple act of entrance into the 
colony, regardless of the object of the visit, 
it is alleged, was an aggravated assault upon 
the Puritan homestead. 

This theory, first propounded by the Pu- 
ritans themselves, has come to be accepted 
as historical truth, and no one of our prom- 
inent writers has thought it important to 
state that the Quakers denied it with as 
much emphasis, and with at least as great 
sincerity, as the Puritans asserted it. The 



70 THE QUAKER INVASION 

Quakers clain^ed that as Englishmen they 
had the legal right to visit or to live wher- 
ever the English flag proclaimed English 
jurisdiction. 1 This claim rested upon that 
clause in the charter which expressly guar- 
anties " all liberties and immunities of free 
and natural subjects of . . . the realm," to 
all Englishmen " which shall go to and in- 
habit " Massachusetts, or '' which shall hap- 
pen to be born there, or on the seas in going 
thither or returning from thence." ^ The 
authorities relied upon the same charter, in 
which they professed to find warrant to 
build a Chinese wall around the colony. 
Now the only clause of the charter that can 
be used to justify such arbitrar}^ legislation 
is the one already quoted, and which, as we 
have seen, is a grant of the vrar power to 
the colonial government, and nothing more. 
Legal quibbling was apparently as easy then 
as now, and the charter, wrested from its 
purpose, was made an instrument of tyr- 
anny. But if the Puritans quibbled, their 
apologists do something worse when they 
justify the treatment of the Quakers on the 
pretense that they had no business here, 

1 See Bisliop and other early Quaker historians. 

2 Massachusetts Records, vol. i. p. 16. 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 71 

and that, by coming, they forfeited their 
rights; for the fact is, that four fifths of 
them were residents of the colony, and 
were recognized as such by tlie authorities 
long before the persecution began. Upsall, 
Southwick, and others were freemen. The 
Buffums, Whartons, Shattucks, and scores 
of others, were property holders and rep- 
utable citizens.^ Hereafter when the com- 
ing of the Quakers is under discussion, in 
the interest of justice let this fact be re- 
membered, and let it not be forgotten, that 
these people bravely maintained what they 
believed to be their chartered rights. They 
appealed, also, to the " Body of tbe Liber- 
ties," previously referred to, wherein they 
found ample guaranty of protection for both 
residents and strangers. Paper guaranties, 
it is true, availed them nothing; but they 
are of essential value to us when judgment 
is to be rendered. Sooner or later, the 
opinion now popular with historians must 
be reversed, and the claim of the Quakers, 
both to come and to live here, will be sus- 
tained. 

1 Samuel Wiiitlirop, a son of Governor Winthrop, was a 
Quaker. lie does not (i<;ure in the Quaker annals of IMassa- 
chusetts, but was a resilient and a leading citizen of Autigua, 



72 THE QUAKER INVASION 

But the main charge in the indictment of 
the Quakers, and the one upon which Pu- 
ritan apologists most rely to justify their 
own clients, is that Quakerism manifested 
itself here in the persistent and frequent 
lawlessness and indecent conduct of its ad- 
herents. We are taught to believe that the 
Puritans were exasperated beyond endur- 
ance, and that the solution of Puritan per- 
secution is to be found in the extravagances 
of the Friends. Will this plea bear the test 
of examination ? 

In the first place, it is to be remarked that 
many writers accept this convenient solu- 
tion, and recount the story as told by prej- 
udiced authorities, while others rake the 
records, and, without caring to test their 
correctness, parade every instance of misde- 
meanor that they find charged upon the 
Friends, with relentless fidelity to the pur- 
pose of their search. In Grahame's History 
it is related that one Faubord attempted to 
imitate Abraham, and was only prevented 
from sacrificing his son by the interference 
of his neighbors. This story is copied by 
a later writer and handed down as a speci- 

where he bravely maintained the principles and testimonies 
of Friends. Besse, vol. ii. chap. ix. p. 371. 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 73 

men of a Quiiker's "blasphemous atroc- 
ity." ^ Now to the mind of any one who 
has even slight knowledge of Quaker doc- 
trines the account in itself convicts its au- 
thor of malicious slander, for the Friends 
maintained unqualifiedly that the old dis- 
pensation had been superseded by the gos- 
pel of Jesus, and that outward sacrifice was 
an abomination. 

One of the foulest calumnies that disgrace 
the pages of history is perpetuated by the 
Rev. Henry M. Dexter,^ who reproduces 
a story told by Increase Mather, to the ef- 
fect that two Quaker women and a man 
named Dunen danced naked together. One 
of the women, Mary Ross, said she was 
Christ, and commanded Dunen, whom she 
called the Apostle Peter, to sacrifice a dog. 
There is more of similar stuff which need 
not be repeated. After the recital, the 
reverend editor, probably to shield himself 
from the charge of willful misrepresentation, 
concedes that " the better sort of the new 
sect by this time had begun to repudiate 
such excesses;" but, he adds, "the sober 

1 R. II. Allen, in The New Enrjland Tragedies in Prose, 
p. 51. 

2 As to Ro(jer Williams, pp- 124-141. 



74 THE QUAKER INVASION 

portion of the population of New England " 
found it " difficult to draw the line between 
' Old ' and ' New Quakers.' " This libel 
upon the Friends was exposed by one of 
them, a contemporar}^ who wrote a book 
in answer to the " calumnies, lies and 
abuses " heaped upon the Friends by Cotton 
Mather, who repeats the story. Referring 
to this particular calumny and to others, he 
says, *^our adversaries . . . rake up such 
dirty stories to throw at us," and these 
" mad pranks no more concern the Quakers 
, . . than they do the Presbyterians." ^ But 
the extent of the meanness of this attempt 
by Mr. Dexter to dishonor the early Friends 
is the more fully realized when he is found 
characterizing them, in the same book, as 
" mild and peaceful." ^ This he does when 
be quotes their condemnation of Roger 
"Williams for the purpose of justifying his 
own aspersion of Williams's character. 
The attack upon early Friends by Hon. 
Joel Parker,^ published by the Massachu- 

1 Truth and Innocency Defended, pp. 129-132. Bound in 
one volume -with Neio Enrjland Judged. Edition of 1702. 

2 ^5 to Roger Williams, p. 82. 

3 This ingenious lawyer describes the Quakers as " the 
nuisance " of the colony, and ]iroves (to his own satisfaction) 
that they were not persecuted by the Puritan autliorities. 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 75 

setts Historical Society, is a master-piece of 
partisan pleading; but the unfairness of 
Mr. Dexter in his entire treatment of the 
Quakers exceeds even that of Parker. 

The "Magnalia"^ of Cotton Mather is a 
storehouse of ammunition for apologists ; and 
writers who would not willingly do injus- 
tice are sometimes betrayed into misrepre- 
sentation by consulting it and forgetting 
to consult Quaker histories. A striking 
example of this may be found in an arti- 
cle by Mr. John Fiske of Cambridge, pub- 
lished in " Harper's ]Monthly Magazine '* for 
December, 1882. In this article Mr. Fiske 
adopts the popular view of the merits of the 
conflict waged between the Puritans and 
Quakers, apparently without having ex- 
amined the pages of a single Quaker au- 
thority, and enlivens it with the addition 
of Cotton Mather's statement, that the 
Friends called the Bible the " Word of tlie 
Devil." A slight familiarity with this 
branch of his subject would have been suf- 
ficient to prevent Mr. Fiske from marring 
his entertaining and instructive paper by the 
introduction of a stale calumny which even 

1 Book vii. chap. iv. The Quakers are called '* devil 
driven creatures " and " dangerous villains." 



76 THE QUAKER INVASION 

partisan commentators have not had the 
presumption to renew, and whicli has been 
refuted by every Quaker writer who meu- 
tions the Bible, and specifically by a con- 
temporaneous authority. In his review of 
Mather's charges, written soon after they 
were made, John Whiting says, " And as 
to any Quakers, whom he calls wretches, 
ordinarily saying among the people, we 
deny thy Christ ; we deny thy God, which 
thou callest Father Son, and Spirit ; thy 
Bible is the Word of the Devil; both these 
charges we utterly deny, as false in fact, 
and challenge him to prove who or when 
any Quaker said so ; and if any ever did or 
do, we should disown it and testify against 
them ; for we abhor the very thoughts of 
any such expressions." ^ F-riend Whiting's 
challenge, it need not be said, was never an- 
swered. As the case stands, Mr. Fiske has 
revived and extensively published a slander- 
ous falsehood. But Mather, it should be 
said, has excellent indorsement which ]\Ir. 
Fiske may have seen. If not, he can find it 
in the Diary of Judge Sewall, recently pub- 
lished, wherein the Puritan judge seriously 
defines Quakerism as "Devil worship." It 

1 Truth and Innucency Defended, p. 89. 



OF ^[ASSACnUSETTS. 11 

will be easy now to construct a new justifi- 
cation of the Puritans, for what more natu- 
ral than for a people who worshiped the 
Devil, and accepted the Bible as the in- 
spired word, to maintain that the Devil 
wrote it? This important theory being 
conclusively established by the corrobora- 
tive testimony of two pious and truthful 
Puritans, one can only marvel at the for- 
bearance of the colonial ministers and mag- 
istrates. 

In justice to Mr. Fiske it must be admit- 
ted that he is not singular in his methods 
of research ; for with rare exceptions every 
modern history of this subject confirms the 
suspicion that when early authorities have 
been consulted at all, it has been for the sole 
purpose of confirming preconceived opin- 
ions, and for the selection of material to be 
used in extenuating the crimes of John En- 
dicott, John Norton, and their associates. A 
notable illustration of the slip-shod method 
of some writers who aspire to become histo- 
rians is furnished by Mr. H. C. Lodge. He 
says the Friends were drunk with religious 
zeal. He evidently believes that it was not 
unusual for them to appear naked in pub- 
lic, and he describes them as rioters and 



78 THE QUAKER INVASION 

disturbers of the peace.^ Tlie '^ presentation 
of facts '' wliicli he professes to give is a 
mere rehash of some of the worst and most 
abusive attacks upon the Quakers by older 
writers and has no proper chiim to be called 
historical. In the preface to his book, Mr. 
Lodge innocently assures tlie reader that he 
makes " absolutely no pretense to original 
research." Cela va sans dire. 

Of the many apologists who essay to deal 
wdth this subject, the Rev. Dr. George E. 
Ellis is probably the best informed ; and 
if he could but address himself to the mat- 
ter with a mind free from the apparently 
inevitable New England prejudice, he might 
do history important service by correcting 
the errors of his predecessors. He finds 
something to admire in Quakers and Qua- 
kerism, and something to condemn in Pu- 
ritans and Puritanism. His judgments are 
not always consistent, and they sometimes 
positively conflict with each other, but in 
their general tenor and bearing they co- 
incide with the conclusions and judgments 
of other apologists. The main difference 
is, that while such critics as Parker and 

1 A Short History of the Eiifjlish Colonies in America, p. 
354. 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 79 

Dexter indiilgo in wliolesale condemnation 
of the Friends, Dr. Ellis's verdict is relieved 
by some recognition of the Quaker virtues 
and by a recommendation of mercy. He 
concedes that " the Quakers had hold in 
common of an advanced truth, quick with 
the energy of the Spirit." He grants that 
" they were the advanced pleaders for a 
liberty which is now our life, for a form of 
faith and piety which alone has power for 
a free soul." He " can apprehend the high 
and pure motive which not only led, but 
really inspired these unwelcome missionaries 
to our bay." He pays a tribute to their 
*' sinceiity " and to their " meek, but always 
unflinching endurance of contumely and vio- 
lence." He even admits that " much of 
their terrible abusiveness of language was 
wholly free from malice and any ill-inten- 
tion, but was prompted wholly from an 
honest and severely righteous sense of the 
errors and superstitions which they as- 
sailed." 

It is not easy for the ordinary mind to 
understand how a people, confessedly gov- 
erned by a sense of religious duty and led 
and inspired to come here by a liigli and 
pure motive, were at the same time im- 



80 THE QUAKER INVASION 

pelled by an " aimless spirit of annoyance," 
or that, " by every rule of right and reason, 
they ouglit to have kept away." Nor is it 
less difficult to realize that the pleaders for 
a form of faith and piety which alone has 
power for a free soul uttered, *' in a prophet- 
ical way," •"' crude and indigested notions " 
that " sounded like the wildest rant," to be 
relieved of the reproach of blasphemy only 
by being referred to " a besotted stupidity 
or a shade of distraction." There is a sharp 
contrast, if not flat contradiction, between 
the portraiture of the Friends, as we have 
just seen it, and the following sketch, drawn 
by the same hand. The Quakers, says Dr. 
Ellis, were " seditious and rancorous visit- 
ors," and " most of them " were " lawless and 
ignorant." They were " intrusive, pester- 
ing, indecent, and railing- disturbers of early 
Massachusetts," who " regarded themselves 
as led by the Spirit to give 'testimony,' 
which, as things then were, would subvert 
all civil and religious order in this colony, 
and overwhelm it with confusion and 
anarchy. ... A spell wrought upon their 
spirits, and they yielded themselves, as they 
thought, to a guidance from above, . . . 
Modest and pure women under this spell 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 81 

would rnsli into the public highways, or 
into a crowded place of worship, and, inde- 
pendent of all the art or materials of dress- 
makers, would make a distressing spectacle 
of themselves. One such, coming into a 
meeting-house in this condition, had smeared 
herself with black paint as a sign, she said, 
of the black pox, which, she prophesied, 
God would send on this cruel jurisdiction." 
This graphic picture is drawn for our con- 
templation in order to *' relieve the burden 
of wanton and ruthless cruelty cast upon 
our legislators," who were " beyond meas- 
ure provoked and goaded to the course 
which they pursued. . . . Their Quaker 
tormentors were the aggressive party ; they 
wantonly initiated the strife, and with dog- 
ged pertinacity persisted in outrages which 
drove the authorities almost to frenzy. . . . 
Our Fathers cared little, if at all, for the 
Quaker theology. They did not get so far 
as that in dealing with them. . . . Our Fa- 
thers dealt with them on the score of their 
manners, their lawlessness, and their offen- 
sive speech and behavior." 

It is inconceivable how an artist can 
produce two such irreconcilable pictures as 
these with but one subject for his model, 



82 THE QUAKER INVASION 

and ic must be left to Philip sober and 
Philip drunk to settle their own differences.^ 
The substance of Dr. Ellis's diatribe against 
the Friends is reproduced here, because, as 
has been said, it is an epitome of current 
misconception, and because the main argu- 
ment used to justify the Puritans rests 
upon this misconception. The aim and 
purpose of Dr. Ellis is to portray the con- 
ditions under which the Puritans were 
"goaded," and thus to account for "the 
course which they pursued." In opposition 
to his view of the subject, three statements 
or propositions are offered for the considera- 
tion of the reader. 

First. The testimonies of the Quakers 
were not blasphemous, nor do they indicate 
"a besotted stupidit}^ or a shade of distrac- 
tion." On the contrary, they were fer- 
vently religious, and were often marked 
by a vigorous understanding that would do 
credit even to some of the wise men of our 
own generation. Much of their testimony, 
had it been heeded^ would have sti-ength- 
ened the civil and religious order of the 

1 For what Dr. Ellis has written about the Quakers, see 
Massachusetts and its Early History ; The Memorial History 
of Boston, vol. i. ; and Pruceedinrjs of the Massachusetts His- 
torical Society, vol. xviii. 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 83 

colony. They testified in behalf of a re- 
ligious and social order that grows out of 
an intelligent and just administration of an 
enliiihtened fjjovernment. Dr. Ellis has su- 
porior facilities for historical investigation, 
and no doubt holds in reserve much valua- 
ble information accumulated during many 
years of arduous study. If he has evidence 
to sustain his cruel characterization of the 
testimony of the Friends he ought to pub- 
lish it. Such reports as are ordinarily ac- 
cessible do not warrant his accusation ; and 
until he makes it good by substantial and 
conclusive proof, one is obliged to suspect 
that he has carelessly adopted the unsus- 
tained charc^es of some earlier writer. 

The sermons of the Quakers were never 
written nor reported ; but there are letters 
addressed to the authorities, now on file 
with the court records, and also other letters 
printed in Friends' journals and histories, 
which not only reveal the religious and 
mental character and the views of the writ- 
ers, but may also fairly be relied upon to 
indicate some of the prevailing Quaker opin- 
ions, both as to ecclesiastical and civil law. 
A fac-simile of tlie signatures of two Qua- 
ker women to one of these letters is printed 



84 THE QUAKER INVASION 

on page 185 of " The ]\Iemorial History of 
Boston." The letter is addressed '' To thee 
John Indicott and the rest of the rulers of 
this jurisdiction." The editor calls it "a 
characteristic letter," and one therefore 
naturally expects to find it irreligious, where 
it does not betoken " a besotted stupidity or 
a shade of distraction." So far from this, 
a profoundly religious feeling pervades the 
whole letter, and the unsparing scriptural 
denunciation is relieved by a tenderness and 
pathos that free the writers from all suspi- 
cion of malice. The women were evidently 
of ordinary education, for their style is not 
only quaint, but often obscure. It must be 
remembered, however, that the writing of 
even literary men in those da3^s was prolix 
and redundant, and much of it must be re- 
constructed in order to be made perfectly 
clear and readily intelligible to the modern 
eye and ear. The spirit of this letter may 
be judged from the following abstract : — 

" We can rejoice that we are counted 
worthy and CiiUed hereunto to bear our 
testimony against a cruel and hard-hearted 
people who are slighting the day of your 
visitation and foolishly requiting the Lord 
for his goodness and shamefully intreating 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 85 

his hidden ones whom he has sent amongst 
you to call you from the evil of your ways. 
. . . The Lord our God is arising as a 
mighty and terrible one to plead the cause 
of his people and to clear the cause of the 
innocent: but surely he will in no wise 
acquit the guilty who have shed the blood 
of the innocent and ye shall assuredly feel 
his judgment. . . . Woe, woe unto you for 
you have forsaken the Lord, the fountain 
of living water, and are greedily swallow- 
ing the polluted waters that come through 
the stinking ^ channel of your howling mas- 
ter's unclean spirits ; whom Christ cries 
woe against and who cannot cease from 
sin, having hearts exercised with covetous 
practices : woe unto them (saith the Scrip- 
tures) for they have run greedily after the 
error of Balaam who loved the wages of 
unrighteousness. . . . 

"Surely the overflowing scourge will pass 
over you and sweep away your refuge of 
lies and your covenant with hell shall be 
disannulled. ... Oh that you had owned 
the day of your visitation before it had been 

1 This old English word, now almost obsolete except in 
vulgar circles, was familiar to polite ears and in fre(|iit'nt use 
in the seventeenth century. See (|Uotalion from Milton, p. 12; 
and from llcv. John lligginson, p. US. 



86 THE QUAKER INVASION 

too late and liad hearkened to the voice oi 
his servants whom he hath sent unto you 
aorain and a2:ain in love and tenderness to 
yourselves. , . . And then these wicked 
laws had never been made nor prosecuted. 
. . . Your glorying will be turned into 
shame and confusion of face and your 
beauty will be as a fading flower which 
suddenly withereth away. . . . We have 
written to clear our conscience, and if you 
should account us your enemies for speak- 
ing the truth, and heat the furnace of our 
affliction hotter, yet know we shall not fall 
down and worship your wills ; . . . all the 
sufferings that we have endured (from you) 
for Christ, have not at all marred his visage 
to us, but we still see more beauty in him ; 
well knowing that as they did unto him so 
they will do unto us, and now they are 
come to pass, we remember that he said 
these things. Mary Teask, 

Margaret Smith. 

" From your house of correction where we have 
been unjustly restrained from our children 
and habitations, one of us above ten months 
and the other about eight ; and where we 
are yet continued by your opj)ressors that 
know no shame. Boston, 21^' of y^ 10'""^' 
1660." 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 87 

When Wen lock Cliristison was on trial 
for his life, he said to the court, " Do not 
think to weary out the living God by tak- 
ing away the lives of his servants ! What 
do you gain by it ? For the last man that 
you put to death, here are five come in his 
room : and if you have power to take my 
life from me, God can raise up the same 
principle of life in ten of his servants and 
send them among you, in my room, that 
you may have torment upon torment, which 
is your portion ; for there is no peace to the 
wicked, saitli my God." 

The righteous indignation of this heroic 
soul is sometimes referred to as evidence of 
a malicious spirit. Does it not rather show 
the spirit of a martyr who, in the hour of 
peril, was faithful to the memory of his mur- 
dered friends and dared to confront their 
executioners with uncompromising fidelity 
to the cause for which they died ? 

John Burs tow was one of the five Friends 
referred to by Christison, who had come 
into the presence of the court to support 
him in the hour of trial. But little is 
known of him beyond this fact, and that 
while in gaol, in 16G1, he wrote a letter to 
his persecutors in which he expresses his 



88 THE QUAKER INVASION 

telief that their hearts were hardened be- 
yond redemption, and that the righteous 
judgments of the Lord would be poured 
forth upon them. His letter is unmistaka- 
bly that of a Puritan who, having been con- 
verted to Quakerism, nevertheless continued 
to draw his inspiration mainly from the old 
Hebrew prophets. A few sentences will 
give the spirit of the letter, which, however 
denunciatory it may be, is neither blasphe- 
mous nor stupid. *' Your assemblies are an 
abomination to the Lord, your hands are 
defiled with blood ... ye that have an ear 
to hear, hearken and come forth from among 
them that ye may be as fire-brands plucked 
out of the fire, for as certainly as the plagues 
were poured forth upon hard-hearted Pha- 
raoh, shall the plagues and judgments of the 
Lord be poured forth upon the inhabitants 
of this town of Boston." 

Josiah Southwick was a representative 
Quaker. A full recital of his sufferings 
would melt a heart of stone, and yet he 
addressed a letter, from the gaol, to the 
General Court, of which the following is an 
extract. It fitl}^ indicates the spirit of the 
entire letter : " Some have said we are the 
persecutors, but we know we are the perse- 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 89 

cuted ; yet we can freely say, the Lord lay 
not your sin to your charge, for I believe 
many of you know not what you do." 

During her imprisonment, Mary Dyer 
addressed a letter to the " General Court at 
Boston," in which she said, " And have you 
no other Aveapons to fight with against spir- 
itual wickedness as you call it? Search 
with the hght of Clirist in you and it will 
show you of whom you take counsel. . . . 
It is not my own life I seek, but the life 
of the seed which I know the Lord hath 
blessed. And I know this ; that if you con- 
firm your law, the Lord will overthrow both 
your law and you, by his righteous judg- 
ments and plagues poured justl}^ upon you. 
In love and in the spirit of meekness, I 
again beseech you, for I have no enmity to 
the persons of any : but you shall know that 
God will not be mocked." 

Viewed from a literary, moral, or religious 
standpoint, ^lary Dyer's letters (and this 
is equally true of the letters and other writ- 
ings of very many early Quakers) compare 
favorably with the best efforts of the lead- 
ing Puritans. Daniel Gould, a compara- 
tively illiterate Quaker, wrote a letter dated 
'' rod Hand the 3 month IGGO," and ad- 



90 THE QUAKER INVASION 

dressed " To tlie rulers & people of the town 
& jurisdiction of bostene." He appealed to 
them as follows : " I am grieved to see your 
cruelty and your hard-heartedness against 
a people that cannot flatter you nor will- 
fully do you any wrong, but if any should 
do you any wrong or trespass against any 
man, let a righteous law take hold of such ; 
but what need any law be made against 
the innocent, those that do you no wrong. 
. . . Concerning religion let every one be 
fully persuaded in his own mind and wor- 
ship according as God shall persuade his 
own heart, and if any worship not God as 
they ought to do and yet liveth quietly and 
peaceably with their neighbors and country- 
men and doeth them no wrong, is it not 
safer for you to let them alone to receive 
their reward from him'who said, I will ren- 
der veno^eance to mine enemies and reward 
them that hate me. . . . Let God alone be 
Lord of the conscience, and not man, and 
let us have the same libert}^ and freedom 
amongst you, as other Englishmen have to 
come and visit our friends and kindred and 
do that which is honest and lawful to be 
done in buying or selling ; and if any have 
a mind to reason or speak concerning the 



OF .U ASS AC ri US KITS. 91 

way and worship of God, that tht^y may not 
be put in prison ov punished for it, and so 
let people have liberty to try all things and 
hold fast that which is good." i Had the 
rulers heeded the advice of this uneducated 
but liberal and clear-headed Quaker, instead 
of the bigoted counsel of the cultivated and 
accomplished John Norton, they might have 
established a civil and religious order in 
the colony which would have forever marked 
them as just and enlightened legislators. 

The second proposition to be considered 
is, that whereas Dr. Ellis's arraignment of 
Friends gives the impression that extrava- 
gant and offensive behavior was the rule 
with them, the truth is that their extrava- 
gances were comparatively infrequent, and, 
aside from their use of emphatic scriptural 
language, were exceptional. 

The tliird statement is, that the persecu- 
tion of Friends was not only not the result, 
but was the direct cause of such improprie- 
ties as may be proved upon them. These 
two propositions may be considered jointly. 

As fair specimens of the invective in- 
dulged in by the Quakers, Dr. Ellis quotes 

1 For this aud other Quaker letters, see Appendix, pp. 
202-222. 



92 THE QUAKER INVASION 

some liursh language from the journal of 
Humphrey Norton, which he found in the 
British Museum. It is not in any of our 
libraries, but other Quaker works, written 
during the same period, confirm the belief 
that Friends, smarting under a sense of 
wrong and personal injury, did not hesi- 
tate to call men and things by tlieir right 
names. And yet they were quick to forgive, 
and they bore no malice. Their denuncia- 
tion of persecution and superstitious church 
ordinances was scriptural almost without 
exception. It is impossible for any one to 
cite a single instance of indecent railing by 
a Quaker, such as we have seen was in- 
dulged in with comparative impunity by 
the Puritan Edmund Batter, a government 
official and church-member. It may not 
only be admitted, but all lovers of fair play 
must find satisfaction in the fact, that 
Friends resorted to scriptural weapons in 
the unequal conflict. It is questionable, 
liowever, whether the practice was so habit- 
ual with them as is represented. It is more 
probable that their invective was the special 
utterance extorted by special or specific 
deeds of Puritan violence. The Puritan 
court records seem to confirm this view, for 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 93 

the reports of arrests and trials are remark- 
ably free from charges of rudeness of either 
speech or behavior, and it is noteworthy 
that in the scriptm-al argument against 
Quakerism written by John Norton and 
published by order of the General Court, 
October 18, 1659, it is alleged that " the 
practice of the Quakers ... is to belch 
out railing and cursing speeches," but the 
accusation is qualified by the words, " some 
of them at least." ^ It is a mistake to sup- 
pose that those Friends who indulged in 
what, to polite ears of this age, sounds ex- 
travagant and ill-mannered, were in any 
way peculiar, or that they spoke in an un- 
known tongue ; for they merely conformed 
to the manners and customs characteristic 
of the age in which they lived, and espe- 
cially characteristic of the Puritans. This 
has already been demonstrated as to Eng- 
land, in the preceding pages, by quotations 
from Puritan authors who called clergy- 
men of the Established Church " Baal- 
ites and P>alaamites," and the "service 
book " an '' abomination," and by citations 
of the acts and language of other men and 
writers, including Milton. In New Eng- 

1 See Appendix, p. 1 IT 



94 THE QUAKER INVASION 

liuid the same customs were prevalent. 
The Puritans were forward to abuse men 
with tlieir tongue, and were perfectly at 
home in the vindictive vernacular. AYe 
have already observed, how impossible it 
was for them to enact a law aimed at 
Friends, without ushering it in with a vitu- 
perative epithet. In these laws and other 
documents we are made familiar with such 
terms as cursed sect of hereticks, blasphe- 
mouth opinions, devilish opinions, pestilent 
errors and practices, diabolical doctrine, per- 
nicious sect, horrid tenets, instrument of 
satan, rogues and vagabonds, incorrigible 
rogues, etc. Charles Chauncey, President 
of Harvard College, in nrging the enforce- 
ment of capital punishment, spoke of six 
Quaker prisoners as " six wolves in a 
trap,"" to which, in a later day, Elizabeth 
Hooten retorted by denouncing the college 
as " a cage of unclean birds." 

In Hutchinson's History it is related that 
at the ordination of Mr. Higginson, in 1G60, 
John Smith of Salem was arrested for mak- 
ing a disturbance by crying out, "What you 
are going about to set U23, our God is pull- 
ing down ; " while Bishop, witliout, however, 
designating the time or occasion, quotes 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 95 

Iligginson as stigmatizing tlie Quaker's In- 
ward Light as "a stinking vapor from bell.'* 
Were not the Puritans quite equal to the 
Friends in extravagance of hmguage and 
the use of harsh and vindictive epithets? 

It is commonly understood that the Qua- 
kers constantly interrupted the religious 
meetings and the famous Thursday lecture 
of the Puritans, but this is an error started 
by some malicious or careless commentator 
and greedily adopted by others. In rare 
instances, such as the one Hutchinson re- 
lates, they may have done so; but both Pu- 
ritan and Quaker records prove that the 
Friends, as a rule, waited until service had 
ended, before delivering their testimony, 
and the same witnesses prove that instead 
of being impelled by an " aimless spirit of 
annoyance " to address church congrega- 
tions, they were inspired by an enlightened 
distrust of religious ordinances and Chris- 
tian ministration that fostered superstition, 
dogmatism, and persecution. When they 
attempted to hold their own meetings, they 
were violently assaulted, their houses were 
invaded, and they were haled before the 
magistrates. A very large number of the 
arrests, of which there is any report, were 



96' THE QUAKER INVASION 

made because Friends refused to attend 
church and bravely maintained their right 
to hold meetings of their own. Edmund 
Batter, the two Archers, Benjamin Felton, 
Henry Skerry — all church-members — and 
Thomas Roots, are named by Bishop as the 
" bloody huntsmen " who made themselves 
especially prominent in ferreting out Qua- 
ker meetings and dragging the " cursed 
heretics " to judgment. The Quakers were 
persecuted and goaded into going to the 
sanctuary of these inquisitors, and, when 
meeting or lecture was over, protesting 
against such outrages and the wickedness of 
both Christian ministers and the religion 
that sanctioned them. A careful search shows 
that in two instances the Friends enforced 
their righteous protests by the unique 
method of breaking bottles. Two women, 
Sarah Gibbons and Dorothy Waugh, went 
through this dramatic performance in " 2d 
Month, 1658," in the presence of John Nor- 
ton, "as a sign of his emptiness." Both of 
them had been, previousl}^, the victims of 
persecution. In 1663, Thomas Newhouse, 
another sufferer, bore his testimony in the 
same manner, crying out, " So they should 
be dashed in pieces." Newhouse subse- 



OF MASSACnUSETTS. 97 

quently fell from grace, and was disowned 
as an apostate by more sober Friends, to 
whom he was a frequent source of trouble.^ 
When Wenlock Christison was on trial for 
his life, ill 1661, Catherine Chattam at- 
tended court, appropriately clothed in sack- 
cloth and ashes. It is reported, also, that 
Elizabeth Hooten,^ who came here with an 
express permit from the King to purchase 
property and to become a resident, but was 
refused permission to do so by the author- 
ities, was arrested as a "vagabond" and 
barbarously whipped for crying aloud, "• Re- 
pent," in the streets of Cambridge. Old 
records and authorities contain these and a 
few other illustrations of what are known 
as the extravagances of the Quakers ; but 
instead of bristling all over with them as 
Puritan apologists would have us believe, it 
is impossible to find any considerable num- 
ber, and the few that are to be found are 
readily traced to the persecution. Some of 
the more familiar instances are counted as 
men in buckram by the excited imagina- 

1 William Edmundson's Journal, p. G9. 

2 Believed to be the first convert to Quakerism made by 
George Fox. See brief account of her sufferings in xVppen- 

dix, p. 177. 

7 



98 THE QUAKER INVASION 

tioiis of writers, who magnify their number 
to a degree that would honor Falstaff. 

The most serious of all the charges on the 
score of extravagance deserves separate con- 
sideration. One has a right to infer from 
the sketch Dr. Ellis has given of the state 
of affairs during the period which he de- 
scribes, that it was not uncommon for Qua- 
ker women to parade the streets and to en- 
ter the churches unattired, and that the 
colonial authorities w^ere goaded into a re- 
sort to barbarous legislation by such wild 
and crazy freaks.^ There is a serious mis- 
apprehension of the truth here. The rec- 
ords furnish instances of two women who 
were literally stripped of their clothing by 
the authorities ; and many other instances 
of women who were stripped from the waist 
upwards and exposed to public gaze, but 
from the arrival of Mary Fisher and Ann 
Austin upon these inhospitable shores, in 
1656, down to the passage of the " vagabond 
law" in May, 1661, in which the cruelties 
of corporal punishment culminated, — dur- 
ing this entire time, there was not a single 
case of such social indecorum by the Qua- 

1 Massachusetts and its Early History ; also The Memorial 
History of Boston. 



OF JfASSACnUSETTS. 99 

kersV — not one. Dr. Ellis cites the case of 
a woman who appeared in this condition in 
Boston, her body being smeared with black 
paint. He is wrong. The record shows 
that this woman, Margaret Brewster, was 
abundantly clothed, and it also shows that 
this event occurred in the year 1677 ; ^ that 
is^fifteeyi years after the last year of the times 
of ivhich Dr, Ellis professes to give a his- 
tory ! In two instances only, once in " 9th 
mo. 1662 " and once in May, 1663, women 
appeared in public without their garments, 
and in both cases their acts were the result 
of persecution. A detailed report of the , 
Ward well case may serve to help us in ac- 
counting for them. Thomas Wardwell was 
a Puritan and a freeman of the Massachu- 
setts colony. He lived in Boston, where 
on November 23, 1634, his son Eliakim 
was baptized. Eliakim removed to Hamp- 
ton about the year 1659. It is not known 
at what time he embraced the Quaker faith, 
but on April 8, 1662, he was fined for ab- 
sence from church on twenty-six Sabbaths. 
In December, 1662, Ann Coleman, Mary 

1 Judge Sewall's Diary, vol. i. p. 43. For a very inter- 
esting report of Margaret Brewster's trial, etc., see Appendix, 
K)p. 193-20-2. 



100 THE QUAKER INVASION' 

Tomkins, and Alice Ambrose, at the insti- 
gation of Rev. ]\Ir. Rayner, and by order of 
deputy magistrate Richard Walden, were 
stripped naked from the middle upward, 
tied to a cart, and, though the weather was 
"bitter cold," were driven through several 
towns. On arrival at each town they were 
cruelly whipped. At Dover, while "the flog- 
ging was being administered, the^RejuMr. 
Rayner " stood and looked and laughed at 
it," whereupon Eliakim Wardwell, who was 
also present, reproved the reverend gentle- 
man for his brutalitj^ and thereby added 
one more piece of insolence to the list of 
Quaker " outrages." For this offensive be- 
havior he was put in the stocks along with 
William Fourbish, who had also manifested 
irreverence by rebuking the pious Rayner. 
Soon after this event, Wardwell harbored 
and entertained his friend Wenlock Christi- 
son. Such an offense was too grievous to 
be overlooked, and the Rev. Seaborn Cot- 
ton, with truncheon in hand, headed a party 
of order-loving citizens, and marched from 
his own home to the house of Wardwell, 
some two miles away. Christison received 
him and asked him " what he did with that 
club in his hand." Pastor Cotton replied, 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 101 

saying, " he came to keep tlie wolves from 
his sheep." Christison was immediately 
seized and dragged away. The wolf having 
been secured, Ward well, who, as head of 
the family, was the bell-wether of Mr. Cot- 
ton's flock of sheep, was summoned to court 
and fined. To satisfy the fine, his saddle- 
horse was taken from him. The horse was 
worth fourteen pounds, and as this sum ex- 
ceeded the fine, a vessel of green ginger was 
left at his house to settle the account. But 
the green ghiger speedily went the way of 
the horse, for Wardwell was soon fined 
again for his own and his wife's absence 
from church, and in time was rendered al- 
most penniless by repeated seizures of his 
property. The Rev. Seaborn Cotton, it 
seems, had a sharp eye for business, and, 
knowing the Wardwells would not pay for 
preaching they did not hear and would not 
countenance by their presence, he shrewdly 
sold his " rate " — the sum of money the 
Wardwells were obliged by law to contrib- 
ute to his support — to one Nathaniel Boul- 
ter. How large a share this dealer in lapsed 
church tithes charged Cotton, we shall never 
know. We do know, however, that before 
he concluded the bargain he visited the 



102 THE QUAKER INVASION 

AVardwells under pretense of borrowing a 
little corn for himself, which they willingly 
lent him. Having thus surreptitiously dis- 
covered the quantity of corn in the crib, 
and its whereabouts, he, " Judas-like," went 
and bought the " rate " and then returned 
and " measured the corn away as he 
pleased." 

Lydia Ward well was married to Eliakim, 
October 17, 1659. She also was a Pu- 
ritan, and a church-member to the manor 
born, being the daughter of Isaac Perkins, 
who was a freeman of the colony. She is 
described as "a young and tender, chaste 
woman," and was no doubt such. She be- 
came a Quaker, with her husband, and in a 
loyal, wifely way had shared the trials and 
sufferings to which they had been doomed 
during the few years of their married life. 
She knew the story of Ann Austin and 
Mary Fisher; she probably had witnessed 
the flogging of her own friends, Ann Cole- 
man, Mary Tomkins, and Alice Ambrose, 
and had heard the laughter of the Christian 
minister, as the lash descended upon their 
naked bodies. Four of her friends had been 
hanged and scores of others tortured. The 
guest of her fireside had been kidnapped 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 103 

under lier eyes ; the rapacious church tithe 
dealer and pious magistrates had stripped 
her home of even the grass that grew in the 
meadow. The burden laid upon this bride 
was too heavy for her young spirit, and, in 
the light of a subsequent event, it is reason- 
able to suppose that it produced mental 
aberration. The original narrator of her 
sad experience states that while these troub- 
les fell thick and fast and heavily upon her, 
she was repeatedly sent for, to go to church, 
'' to give a reason " for her separation from 
it. Pestered and goaded by these demands, 
and probably with an imagination disor- 
dered by her sufferings, she answered a 
summons in May, 1663, by disrobing her 
body and, in this condition, entering the 
church. It was "exceeding hard," the nar- 
rator says, " to her modest and shamefaced 
disposition," to pass through this terrible 
ordeal. She went thus as a " sign " of the 
spiritual nakedness of her persecutors. This 
strange and dreadful scene occurred at the 
church in Newbury. The sequel is far 
more shocking to us than the deed itself. 
The poor soul was arrested and on the 5th 
of May, 1663, was sentenced by the court at 
Ipswich to " be severely Avhipped and pay 



104 THE QUAKER INVASION 

costs and fees to the marsliall of Hampton 
for bringing her, 10s. Q>d. and fees, 2s. Gt?." 
In accordance with this sentence " she was 
tied to the fence post of the tavern . . . 
stripped from her waist upwards, with her 
naked breasts to the splinters of the posts 
and then sorely lashed with twenty or 
thirty cruel stripes." ^ Previous to this, in 
9th mo. of 1662, Deborah Wilson, who had 
passed through much the same scenes and 
sufferings, appeared, in the same manner 
and for the same purpose, in the streets of 
Salem. In her case the constable, Daniel 
Rumbal, it is said, took compassion on her, 
and she escaped with only moderate chas- 
tisement. It is quite possible that the con- 
stable had misgivings, or, it may be, positive 
information regarding her mental condition; 
for, subsequently and' after persecution was 
measurably abated, she was arraigned " for 
frequently absenting herself from the public 
ordinances," and was dismissed because, as 
the court record reads, " she is distempered 
in her head." 

The acts of Lydia Wardwell, Deborah 
Wilson, Thomas Newhouse, and Margaret 
Brewster play a conspicuous part in the 

1 New Emjland Jiuhjed, pp. 37G-377. 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 105 

Quaker melodrama which wo are told pre- 
ceded the Puritan traged}^ The truth is, 
they were not the prelude but the after- 
piece and the sequel to the tragedy. They 
are, however, repeatedly and persistently 
cited in order to justify or to extenuate the 
cruelties of the Puritan rulers. Such acts, 
we are told, might well drive a sober peo^^le 
to desperation, and tempt them to resort to 
the most severe remedies. But will some 
apologist take the trouble to explain by 
Avhat process of reasoning the legislation of 
1G56 to 1661 can be attributed to offenses 
committed in 1662, 1668, and 1677? His- 
tory must be read backwards that this in- 
tellectual feat may be performed. 

The popular apologies for the Puritans, 
that now pass for history and are to be read 
in the pages of standard works (notably 
those of Palfrey and Bancroft), as well as 
in the historical essays of many other writ- 
ers, are based upon an unwarrantable exag- 
geration of the character and number of 
Quaker offenses and upon a reckless con- 
fusion of dates.i This serious and fatal de- 
fect necessarily renders such historical crit- 

1 TJrvant and Gay's Popular FTistnry of the United States 
is a uoluble exception. 



106 THE QUAKER INVASION' 

icism not only worthless but pernicious. 
The modern Quaker has a right to appeal 
from the fiction to the truth of history in 
vindication of his ancestors. There are 
scholars in the old Bay State who are never 
backward when the Puritan fathers are to 
be defended. They are competent by 
knowledge, experience, and ability to inves- 
tigate and to report. Let any one of them 
examine all the records carefully, with an 
eye for the truth, and publish the evidence 
upon which the verdict of these popular 
writers is supposed to rest. It will be 
found to be astonishingly meagre. Though 
"screaming out through barred windows" 
is believed to have been a popular Quaker 
metbod of bearing testimony, but few such 
cases are to be found, and they were jus- 
tified by the provocation. Friends were 
sometimes punished by being put in the 
Btocks, and occasionalh^ while enduring this 
enforced degradation, they testified aloud 
against the wickedness and cruelty of the 
authorities. Unless it can be shown that 
the prisoners were punished because of 
some social disorder, it would be unfair to 
class such acts as extravagances. Instances 
of the kind are very rare. If they are nu- 
merous, let us have them. 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 107 

Tnterruption of clmrch service occurred 
just often enough to suggest the popular fic- 
tion as to its frequency. Down to the pas- 
sage of the inhuman law of IMay, 1661, the 
offenses were confined almost exclusively to 
righteous rebuke of persecution, sometimes 
by letter and sometimes verbally. At- 
tempts to address the ministers and people 
at the close of sermon or lecture may have 
occurred a dozen times during the entire six 
years, though ordinary authorities do not 
furnish so many cases. Whether or not 
this class of offenses should be ranked with 
the " extravagances," can be determined 
better after the whole matter has been care- 
fully reviewed. After the execution of four 
Quakers, and especially after the passage 
of the law of May, 1661, or, to put it in an- 
other way, as the persecution waxed hotter, 
the testimony of Friends became more 
marked, and perhaps more frequent, but 
even then the number of those who were 
guilty of improper acts was by no means 
great. When we remember the bitter and 
persistent provocation, we can but admire 
the calm, quiet, and dignified self-restraint 
exhibited by '' most " of tliem. Sliould any 
competent Puritan apologist attempt the 



108 TnE QUAKER INVASION 

examination suggested, let us have in full 
the '' wild rant," the outcome of " besotted 
stupidity," with the circumstances under 
which it was uttered, and the date. Let 
him cite every case of Quaker indecorum 
and indecency he can find, stating exactly 
what was done or said, and giving the pre- 
cise, or, if it is not known, the approximate 
date of each event. Let him arrange these 
cases in the order of their occurrence, and, 
side by side with them, quote the Puritan 
laws with the dates of their passage, and, 
also, all other provocatory acts of the 
authorities. Let him report each in the 
proper order of time — the numerous ar- 
rests, the indictments, the pleas of the pris- 
oners, the notes of the magistrates, the 
trials, convictions, sentences, and punish- 
ments inflicted, just as he finds them on 
the records. It will not suffice to say that, 
in general terms, the Puritans accused the 
Quakers of " contemptuous behavior to au- 
thority," unless substantiating evidence of 
the alleged misdemeanor is produced, for, 
as has already been shown, the Puritan offi- 
cials did not hesitate to bear false witness 
concerning the victims of their pious wrath. 
Such evidence is clearly of slight value and 



OF MASSACnUSETTS. 109 

inadmissible, unless it is competent for one 
and the same part}^ to perform the functions 
of judge, jury, prosecuting attorney, and 
witness, all in one. It must be remem- 
bered, too, that by " contemptuous behav- 
ior " the magistrates often referred to the 
Quaker's custom of wearing the hat, to his 
use of the singular number in addressing 
one person only, and to his refusal to take 
the oath. These customs were not aimed 
at authority, nor were they subversive of 
social order, but, as the Puritans well knew, 
they were matters of conscience. It was, 
and is, manifestly absurd to pretend that 
while the Friends wore hats in their own 
assemblies and addressed each other in the 
plain language, they wore the same hats 
and used the same style of speech, in the 
presence of government officers and church 
ministers, as a mark of their contempt. 

Too much of special pleading, reckless 
writing, and rhetoric, have been expended 
on this subject. It is time now for the 
presentation of an impartial statement of 
the truth, unadorned by efforts of the im- 
agination. We need a well considered 
judgment based upon the plain facts. The 
tenor of such judgment is beyond question. 



110 THE QUAKER INVASION 

It will be found that " most " of tlie Massa- 
chusetts Quakers were not ignorant and 
lawless, nor seditious and pestering, nor 
rancorous and indecent, but that they were 
fully as intelligent and well-informed, often 
more enlightened, and, on the whole, quite 
as well behaved and as guiltless of social 
indecorum as the Puritans themselves. 

A fair examination can result onl}^ in a 
complete overthrow of the theory that they 
were the aggressors, and " wantonly ini- 
tiated the strife," and that by their wild 
misdeeds the Puritans were " bej'ond meas- 
ure provoked and goaded to the course 
which they pursued." It will be seen tliat 
the Quakers, not the Puritans, were goaded 
and tormented, and that it is a reversal of 
the truth to put it otherwise. Another 
cause for Puritan cruelty must be discov- 
ered. We have yet to learn what Quaker 
offense so frenzied Bellingham as to drive 
him to inflict such barbarous treatment 
upon Ann Austin and Mary Fisher, im- 
mediately upon their arrival here, in the 
early part of 1656; what the outrage that 
'"• goaded " Governor Endicott into forward- 
ing his letter from Salem, saying, had he 
been at home, he " would have had them 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. \\\ 

well whipped " ; what the nature of the 
offenses that led to the imprisonment and 
treatment as criminals of Christopher Hol- 
der, Thomas Thirstone, William Brend, 
John Copeland, Mary Prince, Sarah Gib- 
bons, Mary Whitehead, Dorothy Waugh, 
and Richard Smith, when they first came 
here, in 1656. The list of objurgations 
and indecencies that, in October, 1656, 
" stung and goaded " the Puritans into 
passing the first act in the series of cruel 
legislation is yet to be given. The story of 
Nicholas Upsall should follow this recital. 
The checkered career of this brave old man 
will serve to indicate the '' seditious and 
rancorous " character of the Quakers. 

Mary Dyer and Anne Burden were the 
first Quaker visitors who arrived after the 
passage of the law of 1656. Mary Dyer's 
career, and especially her bearing when she 
faced death on Boston Common, will illus- 
trate the " dogged pertinacity " with which 
she persecuted her reluctant executioners. 
Endicott, it is said, gave her an opportunity 
to save her life by lying, which, however, 
she was too obstinate to do. This pure, in- 
telligent, and devoted woman is pilloried hi 
history ^ as one " of the most insufferable 

1 Memorial History of Boston^ vol. i. p. 1G8. 



112 THE QUAKER INVASION 

tormentors " of Boston. Of what insuffera- 
ble acts was she guilty ? What is the evi- 
dence upon which this description of her is 
based ? The story of her companion is not 
so widely known. It is interesting as a bit 
of evidence to show how the authorities 
were made desperate by the intrusiveness of 
Quakers. 

Anne Burden was not a preacher. She 
came here to settle the estate of her de- 
ceased husband. Bellingham, before whom 
she was arraigned, could find no fault in 
her, but said " she was a plain Quaker and 
must abide the law." Though ill at the 
time, she was thrust into gaol where she 
was detained about three months. During 
her imprisonment some tender-hearted peo- 
ple collected debts for her to the value of 
thirty pounds. Finally, she was shipped 
direct to England. Her request to be al- 
lowed to go to Barbadoes, as her goods 
would bring a better price there, was re- 
fused. Her property was assessed fourteen 
shillings to satisfy the gaoler's fee, and 
seven shillings for boat hire to carry her to 
the ship — for though the captain offered to 
carry her in his own skiff, without charge, 
she was compelled to go with the hangman, 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 113 

who, at her expense, had provided one. 
She was further robbed of goods to the 
vahie of six pounds ten shillings, for her 
passage, of which the captain never received 
a shilling. She, however, on reaching Lon- 
don, though under no obligation to do so, 
paid him in full. It is to be hoped that 
when the Puritan version of this " intru- 
sive " Quaker's stor}^ is told, we shall learn 
what became of the six pounds ten shillings, 
of which she was distrained, though it may 
be that in the " frenzy " of the moment, 
produced by her "pestering and indecent" 
conduct, such trifles were overlooked. Let 
some one name, if he can, a single act of 
this woman or a single act of any one of the 
few Quakers who preceded her, that justi- 
fies or palliates the treatment she received. 
Another class of Quaker intruders has its 
place in our early history. Their " lawless 
fanaticism," as indicated by the evidence 
about to be given, may help to explain how 
the magistrates were beyond endurance pro^ 
voked by these aggressors and " wanton 
initiators " of strife. It appears that James 
Cud worth, a magistrate of New Plymouth 
and a captain, was left off the bench and 
lost his captaincy, because he had enter- 



114 THE QUAKER INVASION 

tained some Quakers at liis house in order 
to become better acquainted with tlieii* prin- 
ciples, which, however, he never adopted. 
He says, " the Quakers and I cannot close 
m divers things, and so I signified to the 
court I was no Quaker, . . . but as I was 
no Quaker, so I would be no persecutor." 
This Puritan Cudworth wrote a letter, dated 
in the 10th month, 1658, graphically de- 
scribing the condition of affairs in both 
colonies, in which he says of the Quakers, 
" They have many meetings and many ad- 
herents : almost the whole town of Sand- 
wich is adhering towards them. . . . The 
Sandwich men may not go to the Bay, lest 
they be taken up for Quakers ; W. New- 
land was there about his occasions, some 
ten days since, and they put him in prison 
twenty-four hours, and sent for divers to 
witness against him, but they had not proof 
enough to make him a Quaker, which, if 
they had, he should have been whipped ; 
na}^ they may not go about their occasions 
in other towns of our colony, but warrants 
lie in ambush to apprehend and bring them 
before a magistrate to give an account of 
their business. Some of the Quakers in 
Rhode Island came to bring them goods, to 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 115 

trade with them, and that for far reasona- 
bler terms than the professing and oppress- 
ing merchants of the country, but that will 
not be suffered." Referring to the imita- 
tion of the Massachusetts Bay magistrates 
by the Plymouth authorities, in their perse- 
cution of Quakers, he significantly says, 
" and now Plymouth-saddle is on the Bay 
horse." This remarkable letter ^ is too long 
for reproduction here, but any detailed re- 
cital of evidence would be incomplete with- 
out it. It is a curious commentary upon 
the " aimless spirit of annoyance " that led 
many of the " pestering and intrusive " 
Quaker visitors to the Bay. The letter 
is also of collateral value here, because it 
suggests the correction of a very serious 
error which occurs in an essay by Judge 
William Brigham, published by the Massa- 
chusetts Historical Society. Judge Brig- 
ham asserts, with evident satisfaction, that 
in New Plymouth colony there was a " law 
against Quaker Ranters, but no Quaker had 
a hair of his head hurt." Judicially speak- 
ing, it may be true that the Quaker hair 
was not pulled in Plymouth as it was in 
Boston, but Judge Brigham ought to have 

1 See Appendix, pp. 1G2-172. 



116 THE QUAKER INVASION 

known, and might easil}^ have learned, that 
the Pl3Uiiouth authorities, though less harsh 
and vindictive than their neighbors, were 
nevertheless adepts in the business of scourg- 
ing Quakers. What are we to expect from 
untrained men, when a distinguished mem- 
ber of the bar is so heedless in his state- 
ments ? 

It is by no means necessary to produce 
the entire record in order to confirm the 
views expressed, or the positions taken here, 
in opposition to opinions and theories that 
prevail in the popular mind ; but the Pu- 
ritan apologist who cares to revise his judg- 
ment should read the whole of it. In his 
review of 1658 he will not overlook the 
glass bottle feat of Sarah Gibbons and Doro- 
thy Waugh, but when he tires of this scene, 
let him leave the church and watch for a 
moment the threefold knotted whip as the 
lash descends upon the back of Hored Gard- 
ner. If he will listen closely, he will hear 
this Quaker woman's voice, as it ascends to 
Heaven, pleading for forgiveness of the per- 

secutors.i 

1 See Appendix, pp. 172, 173. 



I 



OF MASSACnU SETTS. 117 



CHAPTER V. 

THE CAUSE OF THE WAR AND ITS RESULTS. 

Dr. Ellis says " our Fathers cared little, 
if at all, for the Quaker theology. They 
did not get so far as that in dealing with 
them.'* On the contrary, their abhorrence 
of the religious opinions or belief of the 
Friends was the real cause of the persecu- 
tion. 

The cardinal principles and leading tenets 
of Quakerism have been detailed in a pre- 
ceding chapter, and therefore only brief men- 
tion of them is necessary here. In common 
with the Puritans, Quakers believed in the 
doctrine of original sin, the Christian atone- 
ment, a future life either in heaven or hell, 
and the inspiration of the Bible. In com- 
mon with the Puritans, they condemned as 
idolatrous the ceremonial service of the 
Established Church, but they also denied 
the efficacy of ordination, baptism, formal 
prayer, and the sacrament of the Lord's 
supper. They sought to restore the spirit- 



118 THE QUAKER INVASrO?T 

uality and simplicity of primitive Christian- 
ity. Tlieir reliance upon what they called 
the Inward Light, as a sufficient guide in 
matters of religion, has always distinguished 
them from all other religiotis sects. This 
Inward Light may be briefly explained as 
follows : God is an indwelling Spirit, and 
Humanity is His holy temple. His law is 
written upon the hearts of all men, and 
obedience to it will lead them into all truth, 
so far as religious truths are revealed to 
men. Through the operation of this law 
the soul of man is accessible to his Creator. 
It is the rule of life to which every one must 
subject himself, and out of which duty is 
evolved. 

The Quakers were further distinguished 
from other sects by their determined cham- 
pionship of religious freedom. With other 
men religious liberty was a matter of opin- 
ion and political policy, but in the Quaker 
philosophy it stood as a divine principle and 
an inalienable birthright. 

New England Puritans denounced the 
Quaker Light as an ignis fatuus^ and a 
" stinking vapor from hell." For spirit- 
ual and moral guidance they relied solely 
upon the revealed law as contained within 



OF MASSACnU SETTS. 119 

the limits of the Bible, and especially tlie 
Old Testament, and, we might add, they 
rested their ecclesiastical, civil, and penal 
legislation npon the same anthority. They 
attempted to build up a theocratic govern- 
ment. Leaving their native homes to es- 
cape persecution, they established them- 
selves here, only to deny religious liberty to 
all comers. Toleration was only second to 
heresy in their list of pernicious errors. If 
we fully realize the differences that sepa- 
rated them from the Quakers, we shall see 
that a conflict between the two was inevita- 
ble. Resistance to religious tyranny was 
an imperative and sacred duty with the 
Quaker. Extermination of heresy and per- 
secution of non-conformists were essential 
articles in the creed of the Puritans. Let 
us review the evidence. 

The first reference to Quakers in the 
colonial records speaks of their "abounding 
errors." The first two Quakers arrive and 
are found to hold " very dangerous hereti- 
cal and blasphemous opinions." They are 
closely confined until they can be sent away 
in order " to prevent the spread of their 
corrupt opinions." The first count in the 
indictment embodied in the preamble of 



120 THE QUAKER INVASION 

the first law aimed at Quakers is stated in 
the emphatic words, " cursed heretics," and, 
as has been shown, succeeding laws are 
aflame with charges of heresy and blas- 
phemy. In October, 1658, John Norton 
was employed by the Court to write an ex- 
posure 'and refutation of Quaker errors. 
The order reads, "Whereas this Court, well 
understanding the dangerous events of the 
doctrines and practices of the Quakers, hath 
by law endeavored to prevent the same, but 
finding that some of tliem do dispense their 
papers, so expressing themselves therein as 
that they may deceive divers of weak capac- 
ities, and so draw them in to favor their 
opinions and ways, — now, for the further 
prevention of infection, and guiding of peo- 
ple in the truth, in reference to such opin- 
ions, heresies, or blasphemies by them ex- 
pressed in their books, letters, or by words 
openly held forth by some of them, the Court 
judgeth meet that there be a writing or dec- 
laration drawn up, and forthwith printed,'* 
etc. In November, 1659, the Court, ''by 
the honored Governor," thanked Mr. Nor- 
ton " for his great pains and worthy labors 
in the tractate he drew up, and by order of 
this Court hath been printed, wherein the 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 121 

dangerous errors of the Quakers is fully re- 
futed and discovered, and to acquaint him 
that this Court hath given him five hundred 
acres of land ... as a small recompense for 
his pains therein." 

When this same Christian minister, John 
Norton, volunteered to defend the inhuman 
gaoler who treated William Brend with 
such horrible barbarity, it was not because 
Brend was guilty of any breach of the civil 
law, but because " he endeavored to beat 
our Gospel ordinances black and blue." 
In October, 1658, a petition addressed to 
the Court, asking for additional legislation 
against the Quakers, complains of "their 
denial of the Trinity, ... of the person of 
Christ, ... of the Scriptures as a rule of 
life." 1 In December, 1660, in an address 
sent by the General Court to King Charles 
II., the Quakers were complained of as 
" open and capital blasphemers, open se- 
ducers from the glorious Trinity, the soul's 
Christ, our Lord Jesus, the blessed gospel, 
and from the Holy Scriptures as the rule of 
life," etc. 

In the file of unpublished manuscript in 
the State-house, Boston, there are papers 
1 See Appendix, p. 154. 



122 THE QUAKER INVASION. 

indexed, '' Minutes of tlie Magistrates," 
dated 1659-60, and headed, "The Examina- 
tion of Quakers at y® Court of Assistants in 
Boston." 1 These papers do not indicate 
the specific charges upon which the Quakers 
were arrested, but are evidently memoranda 
made during the progress of the trials. 
In this collection there arc forty entries. 
Three of them are too brief and indefinite 
to indicate their subjects ; three state that 
some of the prisoners entered court with 
their hats on ; one states that two of them 
disturbed the court and were carried out 
by the gaoler ; one refers to a statement 
made by some one else, that there was 
a woman at Salem, " Consader Southwick," 
who said she was greater than Moses, for 
she had seen God oftener than he had. 
(This was, no doubt, a slander.) Of the 
others, six mention the protests of the pris- 
oners against the " wicked law," and tiven- 
ty-six refer to the religious opinions ex- 
pressed by, and, it is presumable, drawn 
from them in the process of examination. 

In view of this evidence and otlier facts 
heretofore narrated, one is forced to the con- 
clusion that our fathers were not only not 

1 See Appendix, pp. 157-161 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 123 

indifferent to tlie theology, or what they 
called the heresy, of the Quakers, but that 
fhe policy of persecution which they inaug- 
urated immediately upon the advent of 
the despised and hated sect is directly 
chargeable to their detestation of the al- 
leged heresy, and to their fear of its bale- 
ful influence upon the colony. It is no ex- 
aggeration to assert that the Quakers were 
dealt with almost exclusively on the score 
of their religious opinions. 

It has been said that a realization of the 
radical differences between the Friends and 
Puritans will lead to the conclusion that the 
conflict was inevitable, but to appreciate 
fully the nature of that conflict, it is impor- 
tant to understand their agreements. The 
coming of the Quakers into Massachusetts, 
as the subject is popularly treated, suggests 
the descent of a horde of semi-barbarians 
with pagan customs, grotesque manners, and 
lawless habits, upon a God-fearing, sober, 
and law-abiding community. This miscon- 
ception is fatal to a proper understanding of 
our early history. Quakerism, historically 
defined, was an outgrowth of Puritanism. 
Its ranks were recruited from the English 
yeomanry. Some of the Friends, before 



124 THE QUAKER INVASION 

their conversion to peace principles, had 
served in the armies of Cromwell, and most 
of them had been attached to one or the 
other of the non - conformist or Puritan 
churches. This is especially true of the 
New England Quakers. Tliey were Eng- 
lishmen by birth and blood, and Puritan 
by education. While adopting the distinc- 
tive principles of Quakerism, they retained 
the characteristics that distinguished the 
Puritan from the Cavalier. The martyrs, 
Robinson, Stevenson, and Leddra, who, by 
the decree of Endicott, Bellingham, and 
Norton, were hanged on Boston Common, 
rivaled their executioners in their hostility 
to the Established Church and in their vir- 
tuous horror of the profligacy and licen- 
tiousness of the English court. The Qua- 
ker testimonies, as enumerated in the Book 
of Discipline, find their counterpart in the 
sumptuary laws that grace the statute book 
of the Massachusetts colony.^ The two 

1 Referring to these laws and to the prevailing dress of the 
colonists, Mr. IT. E. Scudder well says that "the Puritans 
. . . vainly sought for a correspondence between the outer 
man and the inner sanctified spirit." This is equally true of 
the Quakers, but the same writer classifies them a- a people 
"who wished to strip off all obstructions to the exhibition of 
Nature." It would be useless to attempt to cliaracterize such 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 125 

parties held in common a living faith in the 
wisdom and power of simplicity, sobriety, 
and godhness, combined with more or less 
enlightened theories of religious and social 
equality and intellectual liberty. The in- 
terpretation of the moral law by either 
party was equally destructive to social sin, 
and equally conducive to social welfare. 
All Puritans were not Quakers, but all Qua- 
kers were Puritans. Strong sympathies 
and similarities intensified the heat of the 
conflict. Family feuds are proverbially 
bitter, and theirs was a family quarrel. 
When Greek met Greek, then came the tug 
of war. Fortunately the methods of war- 
fare were radically different. The one re- 
sorted to coercion and the tortures of the In- 
quisition to enforce an iron will, while the 
other relied solely upon passive but inflexi- 
ble resistance, patient endurance, aggressive 
argument, exhortation, and appeals to con- 
science. 

It is often urged tliat the Puritan rulers 
frequently " disclaimed power over the faith 
and consciences of others," ^ and that their 

writing. It is easier to believe it was a slip of the pen, and, if 
so, one that both Mr. Sciulder and the editor of the Memorial 
History of Boston will always regret. See vol. i. p. 484. 
^ Massachusttts and its Earlij History, p. 437. 



126 THE QUAKER INVASION 

futile effort to keep the Quakers from en- 
tering or residing in the colony was only a 
defense against the " confusion and anarchy " 
that would surely follow if they were tol- 
erated here. This apology is as nntenable 
as the others which have been examined. 
A disclaimer, to be of value, must be sus- 
tained by corresponding action, and the 
founders abundantly disproved the sincerity 
of these professions. Their treatment of 
adherents to the Established Church of 
England may be in part accounted for by 
the fear of the establishment of Episcopacy 
here as a political power, under the auspices 
of the English government, but there is no 
such excuse for their treatment of Baptists 
and Quakers. They were resolved, at all 
hazards, to control the faith and consciences 
of the whole colony. We have seen that 
tliey were unremitting in their efforts " to 
prevent the spread of corrupt opinions." 
Quaker books w^ere prohibited, men were 
disfranchised for harboring Friends, Quaker 
meetings were assaulted and dispersed, and 
could be attended only at the risk of fine 
and imprisonment. Non-attendance at the 
regular church on the '' Lord's day " was a 
criminal offense. The count}^ court records 



OF MASSACHUSETTS 127 

show that at Ipswich and Salem alone, 
during the four years from 1658 to 16G1 in- 
clusive, there were one hundi-ed and thirty- 
eight convictions for attending Quaker meet- 
ings and absence from public worship. 
As there were but two hundred and eight 
Sabbaths in the four years, tlie number of 
convictions seems sufficiently great, but, had 
there been a separate conviction for each 
offense, it would be very much greater. 
The officials would allow their victims to 
live unmolested for several consecutive 
weeks, and would then swoop down upon 
them. The following entries illustrate their 
methods. 

Couyity Court, Salem, 20^^ b"^^ 1658. — 
*' Provided Sothwick convicted of her being 
fiequently absent from publike worship on 
the Lord's day & alsoe is sensured to pay 
20^' for being present at two meetings of 
Quakers and alsoe is to be sett by the feet 
in the stockes one hower for chargeing the 
court to be persecutors — to pay 5* costs 
court." 

" Nicholas Phelps is sensured by this 
court to pay 40s to the treasurer of this 
county for defending a quakers meeting & 
allsoe to be sent to the house of correction 



128 THE QUAKER INVASION 

at Ipswich for owning himselfe to be a 
qiiaker & there to continue this Courts 
pleasure : to pay costs SO''." 

''30: 9"^^ 1658. The wife of George 
Gardner is fined by this Court 40^ for 8 
dayes absence from y® pubhque worship of 
God, the Lord's daies." 

The iron rule of conformity was nowhere 
more savagely enforced than in JNIassachu- 
setts. When at last Quaker fidelity to the 
cause of religious liberty overcame the al- 
most indomitable will of the rulers and 
achieved a lasting triumph over despotic 
bigotry, toleration succeeded persecution 
with beneficent results. All dread, real or 
pretended, of violence and disorder, van- 
ished, and the Quakers were recognized as 
law-abiding citizens, upright, intelligent, 
peaceable, and useful members of society. 

We are constantly reminded that in order 
to judge the policy and acts of the Puritans 
fairly we must remember that the colony 
was settled during the first half of the sev- 
enteenth, and not the List half of the nine- 
teenth centur}^ Only superficial criticism 
will apply the tests of our present civiliza- 
tion to events that occurred two hundred 
and twenty years ago. That which would 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 129 

be condemned in Boston to-day might have 
been applauded in Boston in 1660. These 
suggestions are pertinent, but are they not 
equally so when the Quakers are called to 
judgment ? Let the persecutor and his vic- 
tim stand or fall by the same rules of his- 
torical criticism. One representative writer ^ 
draws a pleasant picture of the peaceable, 
refined, and genial Quaker whom one may 
meet at any time in our streets and public 
assemblies, and to whom the epithet '' sly " 
is the harshest that can be applied. This 
exemplary citizen, he assures the reader, is 
a very different person from the Quaker 
with whom the Puritans had to deal. This 
ingenious appeal would be more just had it 
been supplemented by the further reminder 
that the liberal, courteous, and progressive 
descendants from Puritan stock seen in our 
business marts, court-rooms, and pulpits, 
and to whom the epithet " smart Yankee " 
is the most severe we can apply, is a very 
different man from the Puritan with whom 
the early Quakers dealt. The contrast be- 
tween Elizabeth Hooten and Lucretia Mott 
is far less marked than the contrast be- 
tween Edmund Batter and Nathaniel Ver}-, 

1 Dr. Ellis. 



130 THE QUAKER INVASION 

the present treasurer of the town of Salem. 
Our Buffums, Shattucks, and Southwicks 
are not exact copies of their Quaker ances- t 

tors who bore these names, and we shall all \ 

asrree that our well-known Endicotts, Nor- 
tons, and Higginsons are a vast improve- 
ment upon their Puritan forefathers. 

The age of Puritanism was an age of re- 
ligious bigotry, intolerance, and persecution, 
relieved, however, by the liberal teaching of 
Milton and many other enlightened men of 
genius and talent. In New England, Rhode 
Island was the silver lining to the dark cloud 
that overhung Massachusetts. The liberal 
principles and poHcy of Williams, Arnold, 
and the Quakers, Coddington and Easton, 
put to shame the rulers of this colony. The 
average New England Puritan was far be- 
hind contemporary English reformers, but 
the rulers here were behind the average 
New England Puritan. This was partly 
due to the system of government by which 
all citizens except church - members were 
disfranchised. The magistrates and min- 
isters were reactionists, and were not sus- 
tained even by their own followers. Their 
mission here, accepting their own statement 
as to what it was, met with a richly de- 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 131 

served fate. It was almost a complete fail- 
ure. Their plan of government was re- 
pudiated and was succeeded by wiser polit- 
ical arrangements and more humane laws. 
Their religion, though it long retained its 
hold in theory, was displaced by one less 
bigoted and superstitious. It is now a thing 
of the past, a mere tradition, an antiquated 
curiosity. 

The early Quakers, or some of them, in 
common with the Puritans, may illustrate 
some of the least attractive characteristics 
of their time ; but they were abreast, if not 
in advance, of the foremost advocates of re- 
ligious and civil freedom. They were more 
than advocates ; they were the pioneers who 
by their heroic fortitude, patient suffering, 
and persistent devotion rescued the old 
Bay colony from the jaws of the certain 
death to which the narrow and mistaken 
policy of the bigoted and sometimes insin- 
cere founders had doomed it. They forced 
them to abandon pretentious claims, to ad- 
mit strangers without insulting them, to tol- 
erate religious differences, and to incorpo- 
rate into their legislation the spirit of liberty 
which is now the life-blood of our institu- 
tions. The religion of the society of Friends 



132 THE QUAKER INVASION 

is still an active force, having its full share 
of influence upon our civilization. The vital 
principle — " The Inward Light " — scoffed 
at and denounced by the Puritans as a de- 
lirium, is recognized as a profound spiritual 
truth by sages and philosophers. 



APPENDIX. 



COLONIAL LAWS FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF 
QUAKERS. MASS. RECORDS, VOL. IV. 

Att a Generall Court, held at Boston 14, of Octo- 
he?', 1656. 

Whereas there is a cursed sect of hoBreticks 
lately risen vp in the world, w*^^^ are comonly 
culled Quakers, who take vppon them to be ime- 
diately sent of God and infallibly asisted by the 
spirit to speake & write blasphemouth opinions, 
despising gouernment & the order of God iu 
church & coiSonwealth, speaking evill of dig- 
nitjes, reproaching and revjling magistrates and 
ministers, seeking to turne the people from the 
faith, & gajne proseljtes to theire pernicious 
wajes, this Court, taking into serious considera- 
tion the p'mises, and to prevent the like mis- 
chief e as by theire meanes is wrought in our 
native land, doth hereby order, and by the au- 
thoritje of this Court be it ordered and enacted, 
that what master or comander of any ship, barke, 
pinnace, catch, or of any other vessell that shall 
henceforth bring into any harbor, creeke, or 
coue w^''in this jurisdiccon any knoune Quaker 



134 APPENDIX. 

or Quakers, or any other blasphemous haereticks, 
as aforesajd, shall pay, or cawse to be pajd, the 
fine of one hundred pounds to the Tresurer of 
the countrje, except it ajipeare that he wanted 
true knowledg or information of theire being 
such ; and in tliat case he hath libertje to cleare 
himself by his oath when sufficljent proof e to 
the contrary is wautiiig, and for default of pay- 
ment, or good securitje for it, shall be comitted 
to prison, & there to con tj new till the sajd 
some be sattisfied to the Tresurer as aforesajd ; 
and the comander of any such ship or vessell that 
shall bring them (being legally convicted) shall 
glue in sufficijeut securitje to the Gouno^, or 
any one or more of the magistrates who haue 
power to determine the same, to carry them 
backe to the place whence he brought them ; 
and, on his refusall so to doe, the Gouerno"", or 
one or more of the magistrates, are hereby im- 
powered to issue out his or theire warrants to 
coinitt such master or comander to prison, there 
to continew till he shall give in sufficijeut secu- 
ritje to the content of the Gouerno'" or any of 
the magistrates as aforesajd. And it is hereby 
further ordered & enacted, that what Quaker 
soeuer shall arive in this countrje from forraigne 
parts, or come into this jurisdiccbn 'from any 
parts adjacent, shall be forthwith comitted to the 
house of correction, and at theire entrance to be 
seuerely whipt, and by the master thereof to be 
kept constantly to worke, & none suffered to 
converse or speak w"' them during the tjme of 



APPENDIX. 135 

tlieire imprisonment, w*^'' shall bo no longer tliaa 
necessitje requireth. And fnrther, it is ordered, 
if any pson shall knowingly import into any 
harbor of this jurisdiccon any Quakers bookes 
or writings concerning theire diuilish opinions, 
shall i)ay for euery such booke or writting, being 
legally prooued against him or them, the some 
of live pounds ; and whosoeuer shall disperse or 
conceale any such booke or writing, and it be 
found w*'^ him or her, or in his or her howse, 
and shall not iiTiediately deliuer in the same to 
the next magistrate, shall forfeite and pay five 
pounds for the dispersing or concealeing of euery 
such booke or writing. 

And it is hereby further enacted, that if any 
person w*''in this colonje shall take vppon them 
to defend the ha^retticall opinions of the sajd 
Quakers, or any of theire bookes or papers as 
aforesajd, ex annimo, if legally prooved, shall 
be fined for the first tjme forty shillings ; if they 
shall persist in the same and shall so againe de- 
fend it, the second tjme fower pounds; if still, 
notw"'standing, they shall againe so defend & 
maintajne the sajd Quakers haeretticall opinions, 
they shall be coinitted to the howse of correc- 
tion till there be convenjent passage for them to 
be sent out of the land, being sentenced by the 
Court of Asistants to banishment. Lastly it is 
heereby ordered, that what pson or persons 
soeuer shall revile the office or pson of magis- 
trates or ministers, as is usuall with the Quakers, 
such person or psons shall be seuerely whipt, or 



136 APPENDIX. 

pay the some of five pounds. This order was 
publised 21 : 8 m*', 56, in seuerall places of 
Boston, by beate of drumme. 

Att a Gennerall Court, held at Boston, 14: of 
October, 1657. 

As an addition to y*^ late order in reference to 
the coming or bringing in any of the cursed sect 
of the Quakers into this jurisdiction, it is or- 
dered, that whosoeuer shall from henceforth 
bring or cawse to be brought, directly or indi- 
rectly, any knoune Quaker or Quakers, or other 
blasphemous hsereticks, into this jurisdiccon, 
euery such person shall forfeite the some of one 
hundred pounds to y*' countrje, and shall by war- 
rant from any magistrate be comitted to prison 
there to remajne till the poenalty be sattisfjed 
and pajd ; and if any person or persons w*''in 
this jurisdiccon shall henceforth entertajne and 
conceale any such Quaker or Quakers or other 
blasphemous hoereticks, (knowing them so to be) 
euery such person shall forfeite to the countrye 
forty shillings for euery howers entertajument 
and concealement of any Quaker or Quakers, as 
aforesajd, and shall be comitted to prison, as 
aforesajd, till the forfeitures be fully sattisfied 
and pajd. 

And it is further ordered, that if any Quaker 
or Quakers shall presume, after they haue once 
suffered what the lavve requireth, to come into 
this jurisdiccon, euery such male Quaker shall 
for the first offenc haue one of his eares cutt 



APPENDIX. 137 

off, and be kept at vvorke in the liowse of cor- 
rection till he cann be sent away at his onne 
charge, and for the second offenc shall haue his 
other eare cutt of, &c. and kept at the howse of 
correction, as aforesaid ; and euery woman 
Quaker that hath suffered the lawe heere that 
shall presume to come into this jurisdiccbn shall 
be severely whipt, and kept at the howse of cor- 
rection at worke till she be sent away at hir 
oune charge, and so also for hir coming againe 
she shall be alike vsed as aforesajd ; and for 
euery Quaker, he or she, that shall a third tjme 
heerein againe offend, they shall haue theire 
toungues bored through w*'^ a hot iron, & kept 
at the howse of correction, close to worke, till 
they be sent away at theire oune charge. And 
it is further ordered, that all & euery Quaker 
arising from amongst ourselves shall be dealt 
w"^ & suffer the like punishment as the lawe 
provides against forreigne Quakers. 

At a Gennerall Courte held at Boston, the \^th of 
May, 1G58. 

That Quakers and such accursed hasreticqucs 
arising amongst ourselves may be dealt withall 
according to theire deserts, and that theire pes- 
tilent errors and practizes may speedily be pre- 
vented, itt is heereby ordered, as an addition to 
the former lawe against Quakers, that euery 
such person or persons professing any of their 
pernitious wajes, by speaking, writting, or by 
meetings on the Lords day, or any other tjnie, 



138 APPENDIX. 

to strengthen themselves or seduce others to 
theire cljabolljcall doctrine, shall, after due meanes 
of conviction incurre the poenalty ensuing ; that 
is, euery person so meeting shall pay to the 
countrje for euery tjme tenn shillings, and euery 
one speaking in such meetings shall pay five 
pounds a peece, and in case any such person 
hath binn punished by scourging or whipping 
the first tjme, according to the former lawes, 
shall be still kept at worke in the house of cor- 
rection till they put in securitje w*^ two sufFicjent 
men that they shall not any more vent theire 
hatefull errors, nor vse theire sinfull practizes, 
or els shall depart this jurisdictjon at theire 
oune charges ; and if any of them returne againe, 
then each such person shall incurre the poenalty 
of the lawes formerly made for straingers. 

Att the second Sessions of the Generall Court, 
held at Boston, the Idth of October, 1 G58. 

Whereas there is a pernitious sect, comonly 
called Quakers, lately risen, who, by word & 
writing, haue published & maintayned many 
dajngerous & horrid tennetts, and doe take vpon 
them to chainge and alter the received laudable 
customes of our nation in giving ciuill respect to 
aequalls or reuerence to superiors, whose actions 
tend to vndermine the authority of civill gouern- 
ment, as also to destroy the order of the 
clmrches, by denying all established formes of 
worship, and by w*\lrawing from the orderly 
church assemblies allowed & approoved by all 



APPENDIX. 139 

orthodox proffessors of the truth, and insteed 
thereof, and in opposition therevnto, frequenting 
private meetings of theire oune, insinuating 
themselves into the minds of the simpler, or 
such as are lesse affected to the order & goueru- 
ment in church and comonwealth, whereby die- 
ucrse of our inhabitants haue binn infected & 
seduced, and notw^'^standing all former lawes 
made (vpon experience of theire arrogant, 
bold obtrusions to disseminate theire principles 
amongst vs) prohibbitting theire coming into 
this jurisdiction, they haue not binn deterred 
from theire impetuous attempts to vndermine 
our peace and hasten our mine. 

For prevention whereof, this Court doth order 
and enact, that euery person or persons of the 
cursed sect of the Quakers, who is not an in- 
liabitant off but found w"'in this jurisdiction, 
shall be app'hended (without warrant), where no 
magistrate is at hand, by any connstable, comis- 
sioner, or selectman, and conveyed from conn- 
stable to connstable, vntill they come before the 
next magistrate, who shall comitt the sajd per- 
son or persons to close prison, there to remajne 
with out bayle vntill the next Court of Asis- 
tants, where they shall haue a legall trjall by a 
speciall jury, & being convicted to be of the sect 
of the Quakers, shall be sentenced to bannish- 
ment, vpon pajne of death ; and that euery in- 
habitant of this jurisdiction being convicted to 
be of the aforesajd sect, either by taking vp, 
publishing, & defending the horrid opinions of 



140 APPENDIX. 

the Quakers, or by stirring vp mutiny, sedition, 
or rebelljon against the government, or by taking 
vp theire absurd and destructiue practises, viz*, 
denying civil respect & reuerence to Eequalls & 
superiors, w^Mrawing from our church assem- 
blies, & insteed thereof frequenting private 
meetings of their oune in opposition to church 
order, or by adhering to or aj^prooving of any 
knoune Quaker, or the tenetts & practises of the 
Quakers, that are opposite to the orthodoxe re- 
ceived opinions & practises of the godly, and 
endeavoriuof to disaffect others to ciuill aouern- 
ment & church order, and condemning the prac- 
tise & proceedings of this Court against the 
Quakers, manifesting thereby theire compljance 
w*^ those whose desigue it is to ouerthrow the 
order established in church and comonwealth, 
euery such person, vpon examination & legall 
conviction before the Court of Asistants, in 
manner as aboue sajd, shall be coinitted to close 
prison for one moneth, and then, vnlesse they 
choose voluntai-ily to depart .the jurisdiction, 
shall giue bond for theire good abbearance & ap- 
pearance at the next Court of Asistants, where 
continuing obstinate and refusing to retract & 
reforme the aforesajd opinions and practises, 
sliall be sentenced to bannishment upon pajne of 
death ; and in case of the aforesajd voluntary 
departure, not to remajne or againe to returne 
into this jurisdiction w^^'out the alowance of the 
majo*" part of the councill first had & published, 
on poenalty of being banislied vpon pajne of 



APPENDIX. 141 

death ; and any one magistrate, vpon informa- 
tion giuen him of any such person, shall cause 
them to be app'hended, and if, vpon examination 
of the case, ho shall, according to his best dis- 
cretion, finde just ground for such complainte, 
he shall comitt such person to prison vntill he 
come to his trjall, as is aboue expressed. 

Att a Generall Court of Election^ held at Boston^ 
2'2d May, 16G1. 

This Court, being desirous to try all meanes, 
w*'' as much lenity as may consist w**^ our safety, 
to prevent the intrusions of the Quakers, who, 
besides theire absurd & blasphemous doctrine, 
doe, like rouges & vagabonds, come in vpon vs, 
& haue not bin restreined by the lawes already 
provided, haue ordered, that euery such vaga- 
bond Quaker found w*''in any part of this juris- 
diction shall be app'hended by any person or 
persons, or by the connstable of the toune 
wherein he or she is taken, & by the connstable, 
or, in his absence, by any other person or per- 
sons, conveyed before the next magistrate of that 
sheire wherein they are taken, or comissioner 
invested w*'^ magistratticall power, & being by 
the sajd magistrate or magistrates, coiuissioner 
or comissioners, adjudged to be a wandering Qua- 
ker, viz*, one that hath not any dwelling or or- 
derly allowance as an inhabitant of this jurisdic- 
tion, & not giving ciuil respect by the vsuall 
gestures thereof, or by any other way or meanes 
manifesting himself to be a Quaker, shall, by 



142 APPENDIX. 

warrant vnder the hand of the sajd magistrate 
or magistrates, comissioner or comissioners, di- 
rected to the connstable of the tonne wherein he 
or she is taken, or in absence of the connstable, 
or any othere meete person, be stripped naked 
from the midle vpwards, and tjed to a carts 
tayle, & whipped thro*^ the toune, & from thence 
imediately conveyed to the connstable of the 
next toune, towards the borders of our jurisdic- 
tion, as theire warrant shall direct, & so from 
connstable to connstable till they be conveyed 
thro*^ any the outward most tonnes of our juris- 
diction. And if such vagabond Quaker shall 
returne againe, then to be in like manner app'- 
hended & conveyed as often as they shall be 
found w*^'in the limitts of our jurisdiction, pro- 
vided euery such wandering Quaker, hauing 
beene thrice convicted & sent away as aboue- 
sajd, & returning againe into this jurisdiction, 
shall be app'hended & comitted by any magis- 
trate or comissioner as abouesajd vnto the house 
of correction w^^'in that county wherein he or 
shee is found untill the next Court of that 
County, where, if the Court judge not meete to 
release them, they shall be branded with the 
letter R on theire left shoulder, & be severely 
whipt & sent away in manner as before ; and 
if after this he or shee shall returne againe, 
then to be proceeded against as incorrigible 
rogues & ennemys to the comon peace, and shall 
imediately be app'hended & coiuitted to the 
comon jayle of the country, and at the next 



APPENDIX. 143 

Court of Asistants shall be brought to theire 
tryall, & proceeded ag* according to the lawo 
made anno 1658, page 36, for theire banish- 
ment on payne of death. And for such Qua- 
kers as shall arise from amongst ourselves, they 
shall bo proceeded ag'' as the former lawe of 
anno 1658, page o6, doth provide, vntill they 
haue beenc convicted by a Court of Asistants ; 
& being so convicted, he or shee shall then be 
bannished this jurisdiction ; & if after that 
they shall be found in any part of this jurisdic- 
tion, then he or shee so sentenced to banishment 
shall be proceeded against as those that are 
straingers & vagabond Quakers in manner as is 
aboue expressed. And it is further ordered, 
that whatsoeuer charge shall arize about app'- 
heuding, whipping, conveying, or otherwise, 
about the Quakers, to be layd out by the conn- 
stables of such tounes where it is expended, & 
to be repajd by the Tresurer out of the next 
country levy ; and further, that the connstables 
of the seuerall tounes are hereby empowred 
from tjme to tjme, as necessity shall require, to 
impresse cart, oxen, & other asistance for the 
execution of this ordcr^ 

The following Scriptural argument, " To vin- 
dicate the justice of this Courts proceedings 
in refference to the Quakers," was circulated 
throughout the Mass. Colony, by order of the 
" Generall Court" Oct. 18% 1659 : 



144 APPENDIX. 

Many of that sect of people which are corn- 
only called Quakers hauiiig, from forreine parts 
& from other colonjes, come at soundry times 
and in seuerall companjes & noumbers into this 
jurisdiction of the Massachusetts, & those lesser 
punishments of the house of corrections & im- 
prisonment for a tjme hauing beene inflicted on 
some of them, but not sufficing to deterr & 
keepe them away, but that still they haue pre- 
sumed to come hither, vpon no other ground or 
occasion (for ought that could appeare) but to 
scatter theire corrupt opinions, & to drawe others 
to theire way, & so to make disturbance, and the 
honnorcd Generall Court having herevpon made 
an order & lawe, that such persons should be 
bannished & remooved hence, on pajne of death, 
to be inflicted on such of them, as after theire 
bannishmeut should presume to returne & come 
hither againe, the making & execution of the 
aforesajd lawe may be cleered to be warrantable 
& just vpon such grounds & considerations as 
these, viz. : 

1. The doctrine of this sect of people is de- 
structive to fundamental! trueths of religion, as 
the sacred Trinitje, the person of Christ & the 
holy Scriptures, as a perfect rule of faith & life, 
as M"" Norton hath shewed in his tractate against 
the Quakers ; yea, that one opinion of theires, 
of being perfectly pure and w%ut sinne, tends 
to ouerthrow the whole gospell & the very 
vitalls of Christianitje, for they that haue no 
sinne, haue no neede of Christ, or of his sattis- 



^ 



APPENDIX. 145 

faction, or liis blood to cleanse them from theire 
sinne ; no need of faith to believe in Christ, for 
imputed righteousnes to justify them, as being 
perfectly just in themselves ; no neede of re- 
pentance, as being righteous & w%ut sinne, for 
repentance is only for such as have sinne ; no 
neede of growing in grace, nor of the word and 
ordinances of God, that they may grow thereby, 
for what neede they to grow better who are al- 
ready perfect ? no neede of Christian watchful- 
nes against sinne who haue no such ennemy as 
sinne dwelling in them, as Paul had, but are 
free from the presence and being of sinne, & 
therefore Christ needs not to say to them, as 
sometjmes to his disciples, 'Watch & pray, that 
yee enter not into temptation ; the spirit is will- 
ing but the flesh is weake ' ; for hauiug no such 
flesh or weakenesse in them, they haue no such 
neede of watchfulnesse ; they haue no neede to 
purify themselves dayly, as all Christians should, 
for they are perfectly pure already ; no neede to 
put off the old man and put on the new, like the 
Christians to whom Paul wrote his Epistles, for 
what neede they to doe this when they are al- 
ready w^'out sinne, and so w%ut all remainders 
of the old man ? Such fundamentals of Chris- 
tianitje are ouerthroune by this one opinion of 
theires, & how much more by all theire other 
doctrines! Now, the coinandment of God is 
plajne, that he that presumes to speake lyes in 
the name of the Lord & turne people out of the 
way which the Lord hath comanded to walk in, 

10 



146 APPENDIX. 

such an one must not Hue, but be jiut to death ; 
Zach. 13:3; Deut. 13:6; & 18 : 20 ; & if the 
doctrine of the Quakers be not such, let the 
wise judge. 

2. It is the comandment of the blessed God, 
that Christians should obey magistrates, Tit. 
3 : 1 ; & that euery soule should be subject to 
the higher powers, Rom. 13 : 1 ; yea, be sub- 
ject to euery ordinance of man for the Lords 
sake, 1 Peet. 2 : 13 ; & yeeld honnor & reuer- 
ence or feare to such as are in authoritje, Prou. 
24: 21; 1 Pet. 2: 17; & forbeare all cursing 
and reviling & evill speeches touching such per- 
sons, Exod. 22: 28; Eclesiast. 10: 20; Tit. 3: 
2 ; Acts 23 : 5 ; & accordingly good men haue 
beene wont to behaue themselves w*^ gestures 
and speeches of reuerence and honnor towards 
superiors in place and power, as Abraham bowed 
downe himself to the Hittites, Gene. 23 : 7, 12; 
Jacob & his wives & children unto Esau, Gene. 
33 : 3, 6, 7 ; Josephs brethren vnto Joseph, 
being governor in iEgipt, Gene. 42 : 6 ; & 43 : 
26 & 28 ; Joseph to his father Jacob, Gene. 48; 
12 ; Moses to his father in lawe Jethro, Exod. 
18: 7; Ruth to Boaz, Ruth 2 : 10 ; Dauid to 
Saul, 1 Sam. 24: 6; ... 1 Kings 1: 16, 23, 
31 ; w"' otherr that might be added. And for re- 
viling or contemptuous speeches, they haue binn 
so farre therefrom that they haue spoken to and 
of theire superiors w*^ termes & expressions of 
much honor & reuerence, as father, 1 Sam. 19 : 
o ; 1 Kings 19 : 20 ; & 2 : 2, 12 ; master, 2 Kings 



APPENDIX. 147 

G : 15 ; 1 Sam. 24 : 6 ; lord, Gen. 33 : 13, 14 ; 1 
Pet. 3 : 6 ; my lord, 1 Sam. 24 : 8 ; Gen. 44 : 
18, 19, 20; 1 Sam. 1: 15, 2G ; most noble 
Festus, Acts 26 : 25 ; most excellent Theophilus, 
Luke 1:3; and the like ; that servant of Abra- 
ham's, Gen. 24, doth call Abraham by the terme 
& title of master, a matter of twenty times or 
not much lesse, in that one chapter ; and on the 
contrary, it is noted as a brand & reproach of 
false teachers, that they despise dominion and 
are not afrajd to speake evill of dignitjes, 2 Pet. 
2:10; Jude 8 ; though the very aingells would 
not doe so vnto the divill, 2 Peet. 2:11; Jude 
9. Now, it is well knoune that the practize of 
the Quakers is but too like these false teachers 
whom the apostles speake of, & that they are 
farre from giving that honnor & reuerence to 
magistrates which the Lord requireth, & good 
men haue giuen to them, but on the contrary 
show contempt against them in theire very out- 
ward gestures & behavior, & (some of them at 
least) spare not to belch out raj ling & cursing 
speeches. Wittnes that odjous, cursing letter of 
Humphrey Norton ; and if so, if Abishaj may 
be judge, they are worthy to die ; for so he 
thought of Shiraej for his contemptuous carriage 
and cursing speeches against Dauid, 2 Sam. 16: 
9 ; & 19 : 21. And though Dauid at that tjme 
did forbeare to put him to death, yet he giues 
chardge to Solomon, that this Shimej hauing 
cursed him w"^ such a grievous curse, he should 
not hold him guiltlesse, but bring doune his 



148 APPENDIX. 

hoarje head to the graiie w*"^ blood, 1 Kings 2 : 
8, 9 ; according to which direction King Solomon 
caused him to be put to death, Vers. 44, 46. 

3. Also, in this story of Solomon & Shimej, 1 
Kings 2, it is recorded how Solomon confined 
Shimei to Jerusalem, chardging him vpon pajne 
of death, not to goe out thence, & telling him 
that if he did he should dj^e for it, which con- 
finement when Shimej had broken, though it 
were three yeares after, & vpon an occasion that 
might seeme to haue some weight in it, viz., to 
fetch againe his servants that were runne away 
from him, yett for all this, the confinement being 
broken, Solomon would not spare him, but putts 
him to death ; and if execution of death be law- 
full for breach of confinement, may not the same 
be sajd for breach of bannishment ? Confine- 
ment, of the two, may seeme to be much 
sleighter, because in this a man is Ijmited to one 
place & debarred from all others, whereas in 
bannishment a man is debarred from no place 
but one, all others being left to his liberty ; the 
one debarres him from all places, saue that it 
giues liberty to one ; the other giues liberty to 
all places, saue that it restraines frona one ; and 
therefore if death may be justly inflicted vpon 
breach of confinement, much more for returne 
vjDon bannishment, which is these Quakers case. 

4. There is no man that is possessed of house 
or land, wherein he hath just title & propriety as 
his oune, but he would count it vnreasonably 
injurious that another who had no authoritje 



APPENDIX. 140 

thereto should intrude & enter into his house 
w^''out his, the ouno''^ consent; yea, and when 
the ouno'" doth expressly prohibitt & forbidd the 
same. Wee say, when the man that so pre- 
sumes to enter hath no authoritje thereto ; for if 
it were a connstable or other officer legally au- 
thorized, such an one might indeed enter, not- 
wStanding the householders dissent or charge 
to the contrary ; but for them that haue no au- 
tlioritje the case is otherwise. And if such one 
should presume to enter into another man's 
house & habitation, he might justly be im- 
pleaded as a theife or an vsurper ; & if in case 
of such violent assault, the owno'" should, se de- 
fendendo, slay the assaylant & intruder, his 
blood would be vpon his oune head. And if 
private persons may in case shed the blood of 
such intruders, may not the like be graunted to 
them that are the publicke keepers and guard- 
ians of the comonwealth? Haue not they as 
much power to take away the Hues of such, as 
contrary to prohibition, shall jnvade & intrude 
into theire publicke possessions or territorjes as 
private and particcular persons to deale so w"' 
them that, w*''out authoritje, shall presume to 
enter into theire private & particcular habita- 
tions? which seemes clearly to be the present 
case ; for who cann belieue that Quakers are 
connstables ouer this colon je, to intrude them- 
selves, invade, & enter, whither the colonje will 
or no, yea, & notw*^standing theire expresse 
prohibition to the contrary ? If in such violent 



150 APPENDIX. 

and bold attempt they loose theire Hues, they 
may thank themselves as the blameable cause & 
autho''" of theire oune death. 

6. Who cann make question but that a man that 
hath children & family both justly may, & in 
duty ought to, preserve them of his chardge (as 
farre as he is able) from the daingerous com- 
pany of persons infected w"^ the plague of pesti- 
lence or other contagious, noysome, and mortall 
diseases ? and if such persons shall offer to in- 
trude into the mans house amongst his children 
& servants, notw^^standing his prohibition and 
warning to the contrary, & thereby shall jn- 
dainger the health & lines of them of the 
familje, cann any man doubt but that in such 
case the father of the familje, in defence of 
himself & his, may w"'stand the intrusion of 
such infected & daingerous persons & if other- 
wise he cann not keepe them out, may kill 
them ? Now, in Scripture, corruption in minde 
& judgment is counted a great infection & de- 
filement, yea, & one of the greatest ; for tlie 
apostle, saying of some men that to them there 
is nothing pure, giues this as the reason of it, 
because euen theire minde & conscience is de- 
filed. Tit. 1 : 15 ; as if defilement of the minde 
did argue the defilement of all, & that in such 
case there was nothing pure ; euen as when lep- 
rosie was in the head, the preist must pronounce 
such a man vtterly vncleane, sith the plague was 
in his head, Levitt 13 : 44. And it is the Lords 
comand that such corrupt persons be not re- 



APPENDIX. 151 

ceaved into house, 2 John 10, which plainly 
cnougli impljes that tlie householder hath power 
to keeps them out, & y* it was not in theire 
power to come in if they pleased, whither the 
householder would or no. And if the father of 
a particcular family may thus defend his chil- 
dren & household, may not magistrates doe the 
like for theire subjects, they being nursing 
fathers and nursing mothers by the account of 
God in Holy Scripture ? Isaj. 40 : 23d. Is it 
not cleare, y' if the father in the family must 
keepe them out off his house, the father in the 
comonwealth must keepe them out of his juris- 
diction ? And if sheepe & lambes cannot be 
preserved from the dainger of woolves, but the 
woolves will breake in amongst them, it is easy 
to see what the shephard or keeper of the 
sheepe may lawfully doe in such a case. 

6. Itt was the comandinent of the Lord Jesus 
Christ vnto his disci[)les, that when they were 
persecuted in one citty, they should flee into 
another, Math. 10 : 23 ; & accordingly it was 
his oune practise so to doe many a tjme, both 
when he was a child. Math. 13 : 14 ; & after- 
wards, 12: 15; Job. 7: 1 & 8; last, 10: 39; 
and so was also the practise of the saints. 

Wittnes what is written of Jacob, Gen. 27 : 
42, 43 & 28: 5; of Moses, Exod. 2: 14, 15; 
of Eljas, 1 Kings 19 : 3 ; of Paul, Acts 9 : 24, 
25, 29, 30, & 17: 13, 14 ; & of the apostle. 
Acts 14: 4, 5, & others, who when they haue 
beene persecuted, haue fled away for theire oune 



152 APPENDIX. 

safety ; and reason requires that when men haue 
liberty vnto it, they should not refuse so to doe, 
because otherwise they will be guilty of tempt- 
ing God, & of incurring theire ouue hurt, as 
having a faire way open for the avojding 
thereof, but they needelessly expose themselves 
thereto. If therefore, that which is donne 
against Quakers in this jurisdiction were indeed 
persecution, as they account of it, (though in 
ti'ueth it is not so, but the due ministration of 
justice ; but suppose it were as they thinke it to 
be) what spirit may they be thought to be acted 
& led by, who are in theire actings so contrary 
to the comandment & example of Christ & of 
his saints in the case of persecusion, which these 
men suppose to be theire case ? Plaine enough 
it is, that if theire case were the same, theire 
actings are not the same, but quite contrary, so 
that Christ and his saints were led by one spirit, 
and those people by another; for rather then 
they would not show theire contempt of author- 
itje, and make disturbance amongst his people, 
they choose to goe contrary to the expresse direc- 
tions of Jesus Christ, & the aprooved examples 
of his saints, although it be to the hazard & per- 
rill of theire oune liueso 



APPENDIX. 153 



PETITION FOR SEVERER LAWS AGAINST 
THE QUAKERS, OCTOBER, 1658.1 

To the Honored General Court now afsembled at 
Boston. 

The humble Petition of vs whose Names are 
Vuderwritten : Humbly shevveth. 

That where as through the good hand of the 
Lord, this Country hath for seuerall yeares past, 
by means of the pious care & faithfullnes of those 
which haue satt att y° helme, beene preserued 
from many menacing dangers, both as to its 
ciuill & religious interest, in respect of w*^^ we 
may not but allwayes acknowledg o'"selues w"' 
great thankfullues debtors to the Lord first, and 
then to o"" gouernors in the Lord yett finding by 
experience, Satan is not wanting to this day by 
himself and instrum*' to attempt new wayes, vnto 
the disturbing, nay we may truly say the Sub- 
vertino- of o^ ciuill & religious Polities, as well 
as in other p''ts. 

And although, this hath in its measure beene 
taken notice of, &> foreseene by this Hon'^ Court 
in respect of many who haue of late audaciously 
intruded themselues among vs, vnder the name 
of Quakers, whence your pious Endeauours haue 
beene exerted to free vs of soe great an Euill 
threatned. 

Notwithstanding, in so much as the prouisioQ 
1 Massachusetts Archives, vol. x. p. 246. 



154 APPENDIX. 

y* is already made [by reason of their prodigious 
insoleucy] doth not secure vs of the future en- 
joym* of o"" ciuill & religious Libertyes, as is to be 
desired. Wee therefore take o'selues bound, 
both in conscience to God, and faithfullnes to 
this Gouermn^ and people, whereof we are a part, 
to present the following Propositions to yo'" most 
serious considerations, & y* at such a time. 

1'^ Not here to examine their malignitj'' ags* 
the establishm* of ciuill Gouermn*, in the hands 
of any such, as is subseruient to y*^ end thereof 
viz* the good of y'^ people. 

whether these persons, are not indeed to be 
looked at, as professed Enemies to y*^ christian 
Magistrate,^ and open Seducers of y^ peoj^le there- 
from, where they are permitted to be, they call- 
ing disobedience, vnto a great part of y*^ b^^ Com- 
mandm", obedience : we say of y^ 5*^ commandm*, 
y® foundatio of y® p^'cepts of y^ 2*^ table, and this 
they hauld forth as openly, if not as much, as 
ags* y^ power of y^ Magistrate, in matters of re- 
ligion belonging to the first Table. 

2^^. Whether, their practise vnder pretence of 
new light, tends not manifestly, to y^ vtter sub- 
version of the verry body of religion, witnes, their 
deniall of the Trinity, y* is to say, the Trinity of 
persons, or distinct subsistances in y^ diuine na- 
ture, their deniall of y'^ person of Christ, of y'' 
Scripturs as a rule of life, & of y® whole church 
institution of y*^ Gospell, y*^ ordinary means 
appointed for y*^ conuersion and edification of 
Soules. 

1 See Capital Law title Conspiracy. 



APPENDIX. 155 

3'-^ Whether, their incorrigiblenes after soe 
mucli means vsed both for their conviction, & 
preserving this place from contagion, being sucli, 
as by reason of their malignant obduratices, dayly 
increaseth rather then abateth o*" feare of y*^ Spirit 
of Muncer, or Jo° of Leyden reviued, & conse- 
quently of some destructiue euill impending : Itt 
be not necessary, after y^ example of other chris- 
tian comon weales infected w*'^ pests, not more 
perillous then these are, and y® common & vni- 
uersally approued argum* of se defendendo, vpon 
y® sad experience of y'' remedy hitherto applyed, 
is not only not effectuall, but contemned, and 
abused w"' y® highest hand, if after y*^ sentance 
of banishra' added therevnto, they shall still pre- 
sumptuously obtrude themselues vpon this juris- 
diction, whetli"" we say, it be not necefsary to 
punish soe high incorrigiblenes, in such and soe 
many capitall euills, w"' death, rather y'' expose 
religion, this gouermn*, & y*' whole people to 
both temporall and etern^^ ruine. And as for 
any y* may arise among o'^Selues after conviction 
of being quakers w*"^ an admonition therevnto, 
they shall still continue obstinate, y'^ then they 
in like man' may be sentenced to banishm*, and 
if thay shall againe presumptiously obtrude them- 
selues vpon this jurisdiction, y* y^° thay may be 
proceeded w*^ as y^ others. 

Much Ilon*^ these Propositions humbly & re- 
ligiously presented [yo'' Servants are far fro pre- 
scribing any thing to yo"" wisdomes] w*'' o"" 
prayers y* a'diuiue Sentence may proceed out of 



156 



APPENDIX. 



yo"" mouth, & y* yo'" lips may not transgress in 
judgm*, concerning some elFectuall & speedy ex- 
pedient, y* may crowue you with being y° jnstru- 
mentall Sauior^ of this people, in soe weighty a 
cause, & in this hower of N E temptation and 
together w*^ deliuerance from o'^ feares, minister 
matter of perpetuall thanksgiuing on yo'' behalfe 
vnto o'"selues, who are 

Yo'"* most humbly devoted in all christian Ser- 
vice. 



W"^ Dauis 
James Johnson 
Nathaniell Williams 
Henry Powning 
John Euered alies Webb 
Hezekiah Vsher 
Thomas Bumsted 
Tho Clark 
Theodore Atkinson 
Willyam Dinsdale 
Tho : Snow 
John Hull 
Anthony Stoddard 



Natha: Duncan 
John Wilson 
Will Colbron 
James Penn 
Ed Kaynsford 
Robert Waker 
Tho Marshall 
Will Hudson 
William Salter 
Henry Phillips 
Thomas Savage 
John Newgate 



APPENDIX. 157 



THE EXAM. OF QUAKERS AT Y^ COURT OF 
ASSISTANTS IN BOSTON, MARCH 7, '59-GO.i 

Joseph Nicliolson, Jane his wife, and Wains- 
locke Christophersonne. 

Christopher sayth he owns y*^ Scripture to be 
a true declaracon of X' & be true words ; he 
saith y^ mind of God man must know as they 
did w'^'' gave forth y*" Scriptures ; X* is y*" rule for 
evrie one to walk by. 

X' is y° word. 

the letter kills ; y® Spirit giveth life. 

I have not put y*" Scripture in y° roome of X*. 

Nichols to y'' Gov'' : thou errest, not knowing 
y^ Scripture nor y« pow"" of God, thou art not 
come to y* w'^'^ gave forth y'^ Scriptures. God 
heareth us, all th. is but jangling. 

Christ. X* sayth sweare not at all, love y*" en- 
emies, 4* he y* swears is out of y'^ Doctrine of X', 

Nicholson, you er from y® Scripture in keep- 
ing y^ 1st day instead of y'^ Sabbath. Wee owne 
ministers of y^ word, but not of y*" letter, they 
y* take titles were nev^ sent of God. 

that X' in whom I believe is a Spirit, a savio' 
to y*" M^J^"" Denis : thou nev heardest by voice, 
hearken to y® voyce of X' w*4n. 

: y* will shew the thy sins. 

Christoph. he hath a body. one body, & 
one spirit t. & no other but w* is meant in y* 
place Preaching, reading, singing, done by y* 



1 Massachusetts Archives, vol. x. pp. 2G1-264. 



158 APPENDIX, 

Spirit of y® Lord we owne. All other is an 
abominacon. 

Christoph. in obedience to y^ Lord we come 
hither. 

Nicholson. Wee owne quakering to be of 
God, and wee owne quakers whom you so call 
to be children of God & to be of y"" they call 
quakers. 

Christopher & Jane also answered Each of y™ 
for thems. that they were of them they called 
Quakers. 

The Jury was called over to y'" all, and libty 
given to y'" all to challenge any of y"^ off y® 
Bench. 

March 8^ 1660. 

Joseph Nicholson sayth y** law ag^* Quakers is 
a wicked law, & not of God. 

His wife denyes y° law as not of God. 

AV. Christophson sayth as a witness for God & 
his law he stands ag'* you & yo'" law, & y* y^ law 
ag^* y° quakers is ag^* y^ law of God and is a cor- 
rupt law neither pure nor holy, seeking for 
bloud ; & Christ fulfilled y^ law w*^'' appoint mur- 
derers to be put to death. 

Sayth he saw y*^ law before he came at M, & 
he came for a testimony ag^* this cruelty ; & the 
God of order y*^ know not. In y^ name & feare 
of God I am come. 

J. N. sayth y** God y* made Heaven S^ Earth is 
not yo"" God. 

W. C. sayth the true God y* made heaven & 
earth we know Sf owne. 



APPENDIX. 159 

INIatli. Stanly sayth she bears witnes ag'* y*^ law, 
for X* came not to kill but to save. 

Wm. King sayth he is warned of God not to 
goe, & y* he will stay, tho banished. 

W. Christoph. sayth that he owned y'' scrip- 
ture to be a true declaraccon, but not y*" mind of 
God, & sayth that we know not y*' word of God, 
& y* not one man here can prove y*" scripture to 
be y® word of God. Sayth they are y*" words of 
God, but not y'^ word ; he sayth w* he sayth is 
truth according to Scripture, & y* he stands hero 
a witnes for God. 

JNIargarett Smith sayth she denies y° law, & 
stands as a witnes ag^* y° same. 

Benj. Bulflower sayeth he hath fulfilled y® law 
of God, & done all y* it requires. 

Nich. Jn*^ Endecutt. I stand as an evidence 
ag^* y^ thou knowest not y*" pow"" of God, & y* 
w*^*^ thou callest heresie in me shall stand for ev. 
higher than thee, although as high as y^ Pope. 

Chambline. sayth y* he find not y'^ opinion 
of y<^ Quakers to be cursed, but y* w*^'^ shall stand 
when all yo" shall fall. 

W" King sayth he own y® Scripture to be a 
true declaraccon of y'' word of God. 

Mary Trask. & Smith & Martha Stanly, in a 
contemptuous & seditious mann. began & con- 
tinued to speak, to y*' disturbance of Court, so y* 
y^ Court was forced to charge y*^ Jailor to cary 
y"* out of y*' Court. 

W" King sayth I am sure God doth & will 
plead d" cause. 



160 APPENDIX. 

from Redding. 

Benj. Bulflower came into Court w*^ his hat 
cockt: remaineing on his head. & refusing to pull 
it of w comanded. & said he could justifie his 
accon by y^ Scripture. Alleading for his prooffe 
y* Scripture, y* God threatned his people y* for 
y'' sin he would bring a nation ag^* y"^ y* would 
not Hon"" y^ person of y^ old man, 

being examined in Court, 

Asserted, y* after y^ Dissoluccon of y^ Body & 
soule. y*^ body should nev be united to y^ soule 
more, y* y*" first day of y® weeke was not y^ sab- 
boath but y^ last day of ye weeke. y® 7th day. 

Martha Stanly, late of tenterdon in Kent. & a 
single woman. 

Saith she had a message from y*^ Lord, to vis- 
sitt her freinds in prison at Boston, her message 
was to turn people from darknes to light to y'^ 
virtues w*4n : in her measure she hath spoaken 
y® same. & shall go on to y*^ laying down her life. 

Saith wee meet w*^ many y* tell us we must 
sin whiles we live. 

as any keep to y*^ light made manifest in con- 
science they sin not. 

Sayth I acknowledge my selfs to be one of y™ 
whom y*^ world in scorne call quakers. 

Jn° Chambline of Boston came into Court w*^ 
his Hatt on. 

ffrom Salem. 

W"' King w*'^ his Hatt on & IMary Trask & 
Mary Smith came into Court. 



APPENDIX. 161 

owned y* they were at a meeting at Whartons 
on y^ Sabboath day. & y* they were such as y° 
world called Quakers, this all of y™ pticularly 
owned. 

W" King sayth "Wharton was not at home w 
they were there — and I am sure We have 
obeyed y® voyce of God in w' we have done & 
God sayth wo. be to y"^ pastors y* destroy y® 
flock of X*. 

March 9, GO. 

Major Hawthorne at Dinn"" w*'' y^ Gov'" & 
maiestrates at a court of assistants, said that at 
Salem y"" was a woman called Consader Southieck, 
y* said shee was greater y"" Moses, for Moses had 
seen God but twice & his backe parts, & shee 
had seen him 3 times face to face, instancing the 
place (i. e.) her old House one time, & by such 
a swamp another time. 

Also he said a woman of Lin being at y* meet- 
ing w W'" Robinson was y'' who pressed much y'' 
seeking for y*' pow"" w*hin. shee asked him How 
shee should come to feele y*' pow"^ w"'iu. He 
told her y* shee must cast of all attendance to or- 
dinances, as publike p'*ching, pray"", reading y° 
Scripture, & attending to times of Gods wor^, and 
then wayte for the communicaccon of y*^ pow"" 
w*^n. 

and He added y* Hee y* will do so, it will 
not be long, but y'' Devill will appeare, either 
more explicitely, or at least implicitely to comu- 
uecate hims — 

11 



162 APPENDIX. 

JAMES CUDWORTH'S LETTER, AVTUTTEN IN 
THE TENTH MONTH, 1658.1 

As for the State and Condition of Things 
amongst us, it is Sad, and like so to continue; the 
Antichristian Persecuting Spirit is very active, 
and that in the Powers of this World : He that 
will not Whip and Lash, Persecute and Punish 
Men that Differ in Matters of Religion, must not 
sit on the Bench, nor sustain any Office in the 
Common-wealth. Last P^lection, Mr. Hatherly, 
and my Self, left off tlie Bench, and my self 
Discharged of my Captainship, because I had 
entertained some of the Quakers at my House, 
(thereby that I might be the better acquainted 
with their Principles) I thought it better so to 
do, than with the blind World, to Censure, Con- 
demn, Rail at, and Revile them, when they neither 
saw their Persons, nor knew any of their Prin- 
ciples : But the Quakers and my self cannot 
close in divers Thinj^s ; and so I si<^nified to the 
Court, I was no Quaker, but must bear my Tes- 
timony against sundry Things that they held, as 
I had Occasion and Opportunity : But withal, I 
told them, That as I was no Quaker, so 1 would 
be no Persecutor. This Spirit did Work those 
two Years that I was of the Magistracy ; during 
which time I was on sundry Occasions forced to 
Declare my Dissent, in sundry Actings of that 
Nature ; which, altho' done with all Moderation 
of Expression, together with due respect unto 

1 New England Judged, p. 168. 



APPENDIX. 103 

the Rest, yet it wrought great Disaffection and 
Prejudice in tliera, against me; so that if I should 
say, some of themselves set others on Work to 
frame a Petition against me, that so they might 
have a seeming Ground from others (tho' first 
moved and acted by themselves, to lay me what 
they could under Reproach) I should do no 
Wrong. The Petition was with Nineteen Hands ; 
it will be too long to make Rehearsal : It wrought 
such a Disturbance in our Town, and in our 
Military Company, that when the Act of Court 
was read in the Head of the Company, had not I 
been present, and made a Speech to them, I fear 
there had been such Actings as would have been 
of a sad Consequence. The Court was again 
followed with another Petition of Fifty Four 
Hands, and the Court return'd the Petitioners 
an Answer with much plausibleness of Speech, 
carrying with it great shew of Respect to them, 
readily acknowledging, with the Petitioners, my 
Parts and Gifts, and how useful I had been in 
my Place ; Professing they had nothing at all 
against me, only in that Thing of giving Enter- 
tainment to the Quakers ; whereas I broke no 
Law in giving them a Nights Lodging or two, 
and some Victuals : For, our Law then was, — If 
any Entertain a Quaker, and keep him after he 
is warned by a Magistrate to Depart, the Party 
so entertaining, shall pay Twenty Shillings a 
Week, for Entertaining them. — Since hath been 
made a Law, — If any Entertain a Quaker, if 
but a quarter of an Hour, he is to forfeit Five 



164 APPENDIX. 

Pounds. — Another, — That if any see a Quaker, 
he is bound, if he live . Six Miles or more from 
the Constable, yet he must presently go and give 
Notice to the Constable, or else is subject to the 
Censure of the Court (which may be Hanging) — 
Another, — That if the Constable know, or hear 
of any Quaker in his Precincts, he is presently 
to apprehend him ; and if he will not presently 
Depart the Town, the Constable is to Whip him, 
and send him away. — And divers have been 
Whipp'd with us in our Patent ; and truly, to 
tell you plainly, that the Whipping of them 
with that Cruelty, as some have been Whipp'd, 
and their Patience under it, hath sometimes been 
the Occasion of gaining more Adherence to them, 
than if they had suffered them openly to have 
preached a Sermon. 

Also another Law, — That if there be a Qua- 
ker Meeting any where in this Colony, the Party 
in whose House, or on whose Ground it is, is 
to pay Forty Shillings ; the Preaching Quaker 
Forty Shillings ; every Hearer Forty Shillings : 
Yea, and if they have Meetings, tho' nothing be 
spoken, when they so meet, which they say, so 
it falls out sometimes — Our last Law, — That 
now they are to be apprehended, and carried be- 
fore a Magistrate, and by him committed to be 
kept close Prisoners, until they will promise to 
depart, and never come again ; and will also pay 
their Fees — (which I perceive they will do nei- 
ther the one nor the other) and they must be 
kept only with the Counties Allowance, which is 



APPENDIX. 165 

but small (namely, Course Bread and Water.) No 
Friend may bring them anything ; none may be 
permitted to speak with them ; Nay, if they have 
Money of their own, they may not make use of 
that to relieve themselves. — 

In the Massachusets (namely, Boston Colony) 
after they have Whipp'd them, and cut their Ears, 
they have now, at last, gone the furthest step 
they can : They Banish them upon pain of 
Death, if ever they come there again. We ex- 
pect that we must do the like ; we must Dance 
after their Pipe : Now Plimouth-Saddle is on the 
Bay-Horse (viz, Boston) we shall follow them on 
the Career : For, it is well if in some there be not 
a Desire to be their Apes and Imitators in all 
their Proceedings in things of this Nature. All 
these Carnal and Antichristian Ways being not 
of God's Appointment, effect nothing as to the 
Obstructing or Hindring of them in their Way 
or Course. It is only the Word and Spirit of 
the Lord that is able to Convince Gainsayers : 
They are the Mighty Weapons of a Christian's 
Warfare, by which Great and Mighty Things 
are done and accomplished. They have many 
Meetings, and many Adherents, almost the whole 
Town of Sandwich is adliering towards them ; 
and, give me leave a little to acquaint you with 
their Sufferings, which is Grievous unto, and Sad- 
dens the Hearts of most of the Precious Saints 
of God ; It lies down and rises up with them, 
and they cannot put it out of their Minds, to fee 
and hear of i)Oor Families deprived of their Com- 



166 



APPENDIX. 



forts, and brought into Penury and Want (you 
may say, By what Means ? And, to what End ?) 
As far as I am able to judge of the End, It is to 
force them from their Homes and lawful Habi- 
tations, and to drive them out of their Coasts. 
The Massachusets hath Banish'd Six of their In- 
habitants, to be gone upon pain of Death ; and I 
wish that Blood be not shed : But our poor Peo- 
ple are pillaged and plundered of their Goods ; 
and haply, when they have no more to satisfie 
their unsatiable Desire, at last may be forced to 
flee, and glad they have their Lives for a Prey. 

As for the Means by which they are impover- 
ished ; These in the first place were Scrupulous 
of an Oath ; why tlien we must put in Force an 
Old Law, — That all must take the Oath of 
Fidelity. — This being tendered, they will not 
take it ; and then we must add more Force to 
the Law ; and that is, — If any Man refuse, or 
neglect to take it by such a time, he shall pay 
Five Pounds, or depart the Colony. — When 
the time is come, they are the same as they 
were ; Then goes out the Marshal, and fetcheth 
away their Cows and other Cattle. Well, an- 
other Court comes, They are required to take 
the Oath again, — They cannot — Then Five 
Pounds more: On this Account Tliirty Five 
Head of Cattle, as I have been credibly in- 
formed, hath been by the Authority of our 
Court taken from them the latter part of this 
Summer ; and these People say, — If they have 
more right to them, than themselves, Let them 



APPENDIX. 1G7 

take them. — Some that had a Cow only, some 
Two Cows, some Three Cows, and many small 
Children in their Families, to whom, in Summer 
time, a Cow or Two was the greatest Outward 
Comfort they had for their Subsistance. A poor 
Weaver that hath Seven or Eight small Chil- 
dren (I know not which) he himself Lame in 
his Body, had but Two Cows, and both taken 
from him, The Marshal asked him, What he 
would do ? He must have his Cows. The Man 
said, — That God that gave him them, he 
doubted not, but would still provide for him. — 
To fill up the Measure yet more full, tho' to the 
further emptying of Sandwich-Men of their out- 
ward Comforts. The last Court of Assistants, 
the first Tuesday of this Instant, the Court was 
pleased to determine Fines on Sandwich-Men 
for Meetings, — sometimes on First Days of the 
Week, sometimes on other Days, as they say : 
They meet ordinarily twice in a Week, besides 
the Lord's Day, — One Hundred and Fifty 
Pounds, whereof W. Newland is Twenty Four 
Pounds, for himself and his Wife, at Ten Shil- 
lings a Meeting. W. Allen Forty Six Pounds, 
some affirm it Forty Nine Pounds. The poor 
Weaver afore spoken of. Twenty Pounds. 
Brother Cook told me, one of the Brethren at 
Barnstable certified him, That he. was in the 
Weaver's House, when cruel Barloe (Sandwich 
Marshal) came to demand the Sum, and said, he 
was fully informed of all the poor Man had, and 
thought, if all lay together, it was not worth Ten 



168 APPENDIX. 

Pounds. What will be the End of such Courses 
and Practices, the Lord only knows. I heartily 
and earnestly pray, that these, and such like 
Courses, neither raise up among us, or bring in 
upon us, either the Sword, or any devouring Ca- 
lamity, as a just Avenger of the Lord's Quarrel, 
for Acts of Injustice and Oppression ; and that 
we may every one find out the Plague of his own 
Heart; and putting away the Evil of his own 
Doings, and meet the Lord by Entreaties of 
Peace, before it be too late, and there be no 
Remedy. Our Civil Powers are so exercised in 
Things appertaining to the Kingdom of Christ, in 
Matters of Religion and Conscience, that we can 
have no time to effect anything that tends to the 
Promotion of the Civil Weal, or the Prosperity 
of the Place ; but now we must have a State- 
Religion, such as the Powers of the World will 
allow, and no other : A State-Ministry, and a 
State way of Maintenance : And we must Wor- 
ship and Serve the Lord Jesus as the World 
shall appoint us : We must all go to the publick 
Place of Meeting, in the Parish where he dwells, 
or be presented ; I am Informed of Three or 
Fourscore last Court presented, for not coming to 
publick Meetings ; and let me tell you how they 
brought this about : You may remember a Law 
once made, call'd Thomas Hinckley's Law, — 
That if any neglected the Worship of God, in 
the Place where he lives, and sets up a Worship 
contrary to God, and the Allowance of this Gov- 
ernment, to the publick Prophanation of God's 



APPENDIX. 169 

Holy Day and Ordinance, shall pay Ten Sliil- 
lino-s, — This Law would not reach what then 
was aimed at : Because he must do so and so ; 
that is, all things therein expressed, or else 
break not the Law. In March last a Court of 
Deputies was called, and some Acts touching 
Quakers were made ; and then they contrived to 
make this Law serviceable to them ; and that 
was by putting out the Word [and] and putting 
in the Word [or] which is a Disjunctive, and 
makes every Branch to become a Law. So 
now, if any do neglect, or will not come to the 
publick Meetings, Ten Shillings for every De- 
fect. Certainly we either have less Wit, or 
more money, than the Massachusets : For, for 
Five Shillings a Day a Man may stay away, till 
it come to Twelve or Thirteen Pounds, if he 
had it but to pay them. And these Men alter- 
ing this Law now in March, yet left it Dated, 
June 6. 1651. and so it stands as the Act of a 
General Court; they to be the Authors of it 
Seven Years before it was in being ; and so you 
yourselves have your part and share in it, if the 
Recorder lye not. But what may be the ReaSon 
that they should not by another Law, made and 
dated by that Court, as well effect what was in- 
tended, as by altering a Word, and so the whole 
Sense of the Law ; and leave this their Act by 
the Date of it charged on another Court's Ac- 
count? Surely the Chief Instruments in the 
Business, being privy to an Act of Parliament 
for Liberty, should too openly have acted repug- 



170 APPENDIX. 

nant to a Law of England ; but if they can do 
the Thing, and leave it on a Court, as making it 
Six Years before the Act of Parliament, there 
can be no danger in this. And that they were 
privy to the Act of Parliament for Liberty, to 
be then in being, is evident, That the Deputies 
might be free to act it. They told us. That now 
the Protector stood not engaged to the Articles 
for Liberty, for the Parliament had now taken 
the Power into their own Hands, and had given 
the Protector a new Oath, Only in General, to 
maintain the Protestant Religion ; and so pro- 
duced the Oath in a Paper, in Writing ; whereas 
the Act of Parliament and the Oath, are both 
in one Book, in Print : So that they who were 
privy to the one, could not be Ignorant of the 
other. But still all is well, if we can but keep 
the People Ignorant of their Liberties and Priv- 
iledges, then we have Liberty to Act in our own 
Wills what we please. 

We are wrapped up in a Labyrinth of Con- 
fused Laws, that the Freemens Power is quite 
gone ; and it was said, last June Court, by one, — 
That they knew nothing the Freemen had there 
to do. Sandwich-Men may not go to the Bay, 
lest they be taken up for Quakers : W. Newland 
was there about his Occasions some Ten Days 
since, and they put him in Prison Twenty Four 
Hours, and sent for divers to Witness against 
him; but they had not Proof enough to make 
him a Quaker, which if they had, he should have 
been Whipp'd: Nay, they may not go about 



APPENDIX. 171 

their Occasions in other Towns in our Colony, 
but Warrants lie in Ambush to Apprehend and 
bring them before a Magistrate, to give an Ac- 
count of their Business. Some of the Quakers 
in Rhode-Island came to bring them Goods, to 
Trade with them, and that for far Reasonabler 
Terms, than the Professing and Oppressing Mer- 
chants of the Country ; but that will not be suf- 
fered : So that unless the Lord step in, to their 
Help and Assistance, in some way beyond Man's 
Conceiving, their Case is sad, and to be pitied : 
and truly it moves Bowels of Compassion in all 
sorts, except those in place, who carry it with a 
high Hand towards them. Through Mercy we 
have yet among us worthy Mr. Dunstar, whom 
the Lord hath made boldly to bear Testimony 
against the Spirit of Persecution. 

Our Bench now is, Tho. Prince, Governour ; 
Mr. Collier, Capt. Willet, Capt. Winslow, Mr. 
Alden, Lieut. Southworth, W. ^Bradford, Tho. 
Hinckley. Mr. Collier last June would not sit 
on the Bench, if I sate there ; and now will not 
sit the next Year, unless he may have Thirty 
Pounds sit by him. Our Court and Deputies last 
June made Capt. Winslow a Major. Surely we 
are all Mercenary Soldiers, that must have a 
Major imposed upon us. Doubtless the next 
Court they may choose us a Governour and As- 
sistants also. A Freeman shall need to do noth- 
ing but bear such Burdens as are laid upon him. 
Mr. Alden hath deceived the Expectations of 
many, and indeed lost the Affections of such, as 



172 APPENDIX. 

I judge were his Cordial Christian Friends ; who 
is very active in such Ways, as I pray God may 
not be Charged on him, to be Oppressions of a 
High Nature. 

THE STOEY OF HORED GARDNER.! 
Hored Gardner, who being the Mother of 
many Children, and an Inhabitant of Newport 
in Rhode-Island, came with her Babe sucking at 
her Breast, from thence to Weymouth (a Town 
in your Colony) where having finished what she 
had to do, and her Testimony from the Lord, 
unto which the Witness of God answered in the 
People, she was hurried- by the baser sort to 
Boston, before your Governour, John Endicot, 
who after he had entertained her with much 
abusive Language, and the Girl that came with 
her, to help bear her Child, he committed them 
both to Prison, and Ordered them to be 
whipp'd with Ten Lashes a-piece, which was 
cruelly laid on their Naked Bodies, with a three- 
fold-knotted- Whip of Cords, and then were con- 
tinued for the space of Fourteen Days longer in 
Prison, from their Friends, who could not Visit 
them. The Women came a very sore Journey, 
and (according to Man) hardly accomplishable, 
through a Wilderness of above Sixty Miles, be- 
tween Rhode-Island and Boston ; and being kept 
up, after your Cruel Usage of their Bodies, might 
have died ; but you had no Consideration of this, 
or of them, tho' the Mother had of you, who after 
1 Reported in New Enrjland Judged, pp. 60, Gl. 



APPENDIX. 173 

the Savage, Inhumane and Bloody Execution on 
her, of your Cruelty aforesaid, kneeled down, 
and Prayed — The Lord to Forgive you — 
which so reached upon a Woman that stood by, 
and wrought upon her, that she gave Glory to 
God, and said, — That surely she could not have 
done that thing, if it had not been by the Spirit 
of the Lord,— 11th of 3d Month, 1G58. 



EECAPITULATION OF THE SUFFERINGS OF 
LAURENCE AND CASSANDRA SOUTIIICK.i 

First, while members of their Church, they 
were both imprisoned for entertaining strangers, 
Christopher Holder and John Copeland, a Chris- 
tian duty, which the apostle to the Hebrews ad- 
vises not to be unmindful of. And after seven 
weeks imprisonment, Cassandra was fined 40s. 
for owning a paper written by the aforesaid 
persons. Next for absenting from the public 
worship and owning the Quakers' doctrine. On 
the information of one captain Hawthorn, they 
with their son Josiah were sent to the house of 
correction, and whipped in the coldest season of 
the year, and at the same time Hawthorn issued 
his warrant to distrain their goods for absence 
from their public worship, whereby there were 
taken from them cattle to the value of 4/. 155. 
Again they were imprisoned with others for be- 
ing at a meeting, and Cassandra was again 
whipped and upon their joint letter to the magis- 

1 Gough's History of the Quakers, vol. i. pp. 379-381. 



174 APPENDIX. 

trates before recited the other appellants were 
released, but this family, although they with the 
rest had suffered the penalty of their cruel law 
fully, were arbitrarily detained in prison to their 
great loss and damage, being in the season of 
the year when their affairs most immediately de- 
manded their attendance. While they were in 
prison, William Maston coming through Salem 
in his way to Boston, brought them some pro- 
visions from home, for which he was committed 
to prison, and kept there fourteen days in the 
cold winter season, though about seventy years 
of age. And last of all were banished upon pain 
of death by a law made while they were impris- 
oned, and consequently against which they had 
not offended : Thus spoiled of their property, 
deprived of their liberty, driven into banish- 
ment, and in jeopardy of their lives, for no other 
crime than meeting apart, and dissenting from 
the established worship, the sufferings of this in- 
offensive aged couple ended only with their lives. 
But the multiplied injuries of this harmless 
pair were not sufficient to gratify that thirst of 
vengeance which stimulated these persecutors, 
while any member of the family remained unmo- 
lested : During their detention in prison, they 
left at home a son and daughter named Daniel 
and Provided; these children, not deterred by 
the unchristian treatment of their parents and 
brother, felt themselves rather encouraged to fol- 
low their steps, and relinquish the assemblies of 
a people whose religion was productive of such 



APPENDIX. 175 

relentless persecution, for their absence from 
wliich they were fined 10/. tliough it was well 
known they had no estate, their parents havin<r 
been reduced to poverty by repeated fines and 
extravagant distraints; wherefore to satisfy the 
fine, they were ordered to be sold for bond-slaves 
by the following mandate : " — 

Alt a Generall Court of Election^ held at Boston^ 
nth of May, IGiVJ.i 

COUNTY TRKASUUKR A UTIIOIIIZKD TO SELL 
QUAKKIiS. 

Whereas Daniell and Provided Southwicke, 
Sonne & daughter to Lawrence Souihwicke, haue 
binn fyned by the County Courts at Salem & 
Ipswicli, ptending they haue no estates, resolving 
not to worke, and others likewise haue binn 
fyned, & more like to be fyned, for siding w^'' the 
Quakers & absenting themselves from the pub- 
licke ordinances, — in ans*" to a quocstion, what 
course shall be taken for the sattisfaction of the 
fines, the Court, on pervsall of the lawe, title 
Arrests, resolve, that the Tresurers of the seu- 
erall countjes are and shall hereby be impowred 
to sell the sajd persons to any of the English na- 
tion at Virginia or Harbadoes. 

Letter of Laurence Southick and others} 

This to the Magistrates at the Court in Salem. 
Friends, 

Whereas it was your pleasures to commit us 

1 Mass. Records, vol. iv. p. 'M\(\. 
'^ New J'Jn.fjland Judijcd, jip. 74, 75. 



176 APPENDIX. 

whose names are under-written, to the house of 
correction in Boston,- although the Lord, the 
righteous Judge of Heaven and Earth, is our 
witness that we have done nothing worthy of 
stripes or of bonds ; and we being committed by 
your court to be dealt withal as the law jDrovides 
for foreign Quakers, as ye please to term us ; and 
having some of us suffered your law and pleasures, 
now that which we do expect is. That whereas we 
have suffered your law, so now to be set free by 
the same law as your manner is with strangers, 
and not to put us in upon the account of one law, 
and execute another hiw upon us, of which accord- 
ing to your own manner we were never convicted, 
as the law expresses : If you had sent us upon the 
account of your new law, we should have expected 
the jailer's order to have been on that account, 
which that it was not, appears by the warrant 
which we have, . and the punishment which we 
bare, as four of us were whipped, among whom 
was one that had formerly been whipped ; so now 
also, according to your former law. Friends, let 
it not be a small thing in your eyes, the exposing, 
as much as in you lies, our families to mine. 
It's not unknown to you, the season and the time 
of the year, for those that live of husbandry, and 
what their cattle and families may be exposed 
unto ; and also such as live on trade : We know 
if the spirit of Christ did dwell and rule in you 
these things would take impression on your spir- 
its. What our lives and conversations have been 
in that place is well known ; and what we now 



APPENDIX. 177 

suffer for, is much for false reports, and un- 
grounded jealousies of heresy and sedition. These 
things lie upon us to lay before you : As for our 
parts, we have true peace and rest in the Lord in 
all our suiferings, and are made willing in the 
power and strength of God, freely to offer up 
our lives in this cause of God, for which we suf- 
fer: Yea, and we do find (through grace) the 
enlargements of God in our imprisoned state, to 
whome alone we commit ourselves and families, 
for the disposing of us according to his infinite 
wisdom and pleasure, in whose love is our rest 
and life. 

Laurence ^ 
Cassandra >- Southick. 

JOSIAH ) 

Samuel Shattuck. 
Joshua Buffum. 

From the house of bondage in Boston, wherein we are 
made captives by the wills of men, although made free 
by the Son. John 8-36. In which we quietly rest, this 
IGth of the 5"°. 1658. 



A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE SUFFERINGS OF 
ELIZABETH HOOTEN, AS RELATED IN 
SEWEL'S HISTORY OF THE QUAKERS, 
383-385. 

The usage Elizabeth Hooten met with, I can't 
pass by in silence, because of her age, being 
about sixty, who hearing of the wickedness com- 
mitted by those of New-England, was moved to 
make a voyage to America. 

In order thereto she went from England in the 
12 



178 APPENDIX. 

year 16G1, having one Joan Broksup with her, a 
woman near as aged as herself, who freely re- 
solved to be her companion : and because they 
could not find a master of a ship that was willing 
to carry them to New-England, because of the 
fine for every Quaker that was brought thither, 
they set sail towards Virginia, where they met 
with a ketch which carried them part of the way, 
and then they went the rest by land, and so at 
length came to Boston. But there they could 
not soon find a place of reception, because of the 
penalty on those that received a Quaker into 
their houses. Yet at length a woman received 
them. Next day they went to the j^rison to visit 
their friends ; but the gaoler altogether unwilling 
to let them in, carried them to the Governor En- 
dicot, who, with much scurrilous language, called 
them * witches,' and asked Elizabeth, ' what she 
came for ? ' to which she answered, ' To do the 
will of him that sent me.' And he demanded, 
* what was that ? ' she replied, ' To warn thee 
of shedding any more innocent blood.' To 
which he returned, ' that he would hang more 
yet ; ' but she told him, ' he was in the hand of 
the Lord, who could take him away first.' This 
so displeased him, that he sent them to prison, 
where many more of their friends were. After 
consultation what to do with them, they were 
carried two days' journey into the wilderness, 
among wolves and bears : but by Providence they 
got to Rhode-Island, where they took ship for 
Barbados, and from thence to New - England" 



APPENDIX. 179 

agaiu, and so they returned to Boston. But then 
they were put into a ship which carried them to 
Virginia, from whence Elizabeth departed to Old 
England, where she staid some time in her own 
habitation. 

But it came upon her to visit New-England 
again ; and so she did, taking her daughter Eliza- 
beth along with her. And being arrived, those 
of the magistrates that were present, would have 
fined the master of the ship an hundred pounds 
for bringing her over contrary to their law. But 
he telling them, that Elizabeth had been with 
the king, and that she had liberty from him to 
come thither to buy her a house, this so puzzled 
these snarling persecutors, that they found them- 
selves at a loss, and thus were stopped from seiz- 
ing the master's goods. 

Elizabeth being come to Boston, notwithstand- 
ing the rulers, went to them, and signified that she 
came thither ' to buy a house for herself to live 
in.' She was four times at the court for that 
purpose, but it was denied her : and though she 
said, ' that this denial would give her occasion, if 
she went to England again, to lay it before the 
king,' it was in vain, and had no influence upon 
them. 

Departing then, and passing through several 
places, she came to Cambridge, and was thrust 
into a stinking dungeon, where there was nothing 
to lie down on or sit on. Here they kept her 
two days and two nights, without affording her 
anything to eat or drink ; and because a certain 



180 APPENDIX. 

man in compassion brought her a little milk, he 
was also cast into prison, and fined five pounds. 
Being brought to the court, they ordered lier 
to be sent out of their coasts, and to be whipped 
at three towns, with ten strij)es at each. So at 
Cambridge she was tied to the whipping-post, and 
lashed with ten stripes, with a three - stringed 
whip, with three knots at an end : At Watertown 
she had ten stripes more with willow rods ; and 
to make up all, at Dedliam, in a cold frosty 
morning, she received ten cruel lashes at a cart's 
tail. And being thus beaten and torn, she was put 
on horse-back, and carried many miles into the 
wilderness ; and towards night they left her there, 
where were many wolves, bears, and other wild 
beasts, and many deep waters to pass througli: 
but being preserved by an invisible hand, she 
came in the morning into a town called Reho- 
both, being neither weary nor faint ; and from 
thence she went to Rhode-Ishind, where coming 
to her friends, she gave thanks to God, for hav- 
ing counted her worthy, and enabled her to suf- 
fer for his name-sake, beyond what her age 
and sex, morally speaking, could otherwise have 
borne. 

After some stay there, she returned to Cam- 
bridge, about eighty miles, to fetch her linen and 
clothes, which the inhuman persecutors would 
not suffer her to take w^ith her when they had 
whipped her. Having fetched these things, and 
going back with her daughter and Sarah Cole- 
man, an ancient woman, shewas taken up by the 



APPENDIX. 181 

constable of Charlestown, and carried prisoner to 
Cambridge ; where being asked by one of the 
mao-istrates whose name was Daniel Gofifjjin, 
'.wherefore she came thither, seeing they had 
warned her not to come there any more : ' she 
answered, ' that she came not there of her own 
accord, but was forced thither ; after she had 
been to fetch her clothes, which they would not 
let her take with her when she was whipped, and 
sent away ; but that now returning back she was 
taken up by force out of the higliway, and carried 
thither.' Then the other old woman was asked, 

* whether she owned Elizabeth and her religion ? ' 
to which she answered, ' she owned the Truth.' 
And of Elizabeth's daughter he demanded, ' Dost 
thou own thy mother's religion ? ' To which she 
was silent. And yet they were sent to the house 
of correction, with order to be whipped. Next 
morning the executioner came betimes before it 
was light, and asked them, ' whether they would 
be whipped there ? ' which made Elizabeth ask, 

* whether he was come to take away their blood 
in the dark ? ' and ' whether they were ashamed 
that their deeds should be seen : ' But not heed- 
ing what she said, he took her down stairs, and 
whipped her with a three-stringed whip. Then 
he brought down the ancient woman, and did the 
like to her. And takinor Elizabeth's dauorhter 
he gave the like to her also, who never was there 
before, nor had said or done anything. After 
this Elizabeth the mother was whipped again at 
a cart's-tail at Boston and other places, where she 



182 APPENDIX. 

came to see her friends ; since which I have sev- 
eral times seen her in England in a good con- 
dition. 

OKDER FOR SENDING QUAKERS OUT OF 
THE JURISDICTION.! 

Jtt is Ordered that all the Quaker's now in 
prison, except the persons Condemned to be 
whip* be acquainted w*^ the new lawe made 
agaiost them and forthwith released from i^rison 
and sent from Constable to Constable out of 
this Jurisdiction and Jf they or any of them be 
found after twelve liowres w*4n the same he or 
they shall be proceeded w*^ according to the 
lawe made this present Court. The magis*® haue 
past this w"' Reference to the Consent of theire 
brethren the dep^s hereto 

Edw Raws on Secret 

7 June, 1661. 

The Deputyes Consent hereto, withall Desire- 
ing that Browne & Peirson may ptake of the 
same liberty with the rest, Desireing o"^ Hono^* 
Magists Consent hereto 

The magis*s Consent not Edw Rawson Secret, 
but Agree y* y^ 2 psons shall only be whip* at 
y^ Carts tayle in Boston not exceeding twenty 
stripes & so dischardged w*^^ y^ Rest if theire 
brethren the Depu*s consent hereto 

Edw Raavson Secret 
Consented to by the Deputyes 

Wm Torrey Cleric 
1 Massachusetts Archives, vol. x. p. 273. 



APPENDIX. 183 

This order was issued under the fear of inter- 
ference by the Crown. ^ Samuel Shattuck, who 
had been banished upon pain of death if he re- 
turned, was now in England, and with others 
had petitioned the King to " restrain the vio- 
lence of these Rulers of New-England." The 
petition may be found in vol. i. of Besse's " Col- 
lection of Sufferings," where it is given as fol- 
lows : — 

A Declaration of some Part of the Sufferings 
of the People of God in Scorn called Quakers, 
from the Professors in New-England, only for 
the Exercise of their Consciences to the Lord, 
and obeying and confessing to the Truth, as in 
his Light he had discovered it to them. 

1. Two honest and innocent Women stripped 
stark naked, and searched after such an inhuman 
manner, as modesty will not permit particularly 
to mention. 

2. Twelve strangers in that Country, but free- 
born of this Nation, received Twenty-three Whip- 
pings, the most of them being with a Whip of 

Three Cords with Knots at the Ends, and laid on 
with as much Strength as could be by the Arm 
of their Executioner, the Stripes amounting to 
Three Hundred and Seventy. 

3. Eighteen Inhabitants of the Country, being 
free-born English, received Twenty three Whip- 
pings, the Stripes amounting to I'wo Hundred 
and Fifty. 

4. Sixty Four Imprisonments of the Lord's 
1 Sewel, Besse, aud others, coiilirm this statement. 



184 APPENDIX. 

People, for their Obedience to his Will, amount- 
ing to Five Hundred and Nineteen Weeks, much 
of it being very cold Weather, and the Inhabit- 
ants kept in Prison in Harvest-time, which was 
very much to their Loss ; besides many more 
imprisoned, of which Time we cannot give a 
just- Account. 

5. Ttvo beaten with Pitched Hopes, the blows 
amounting to an Hundred and Thirty nine, by 
which one of them was brought near unto Death, 
much of his Body being beaten like unto a Jelly, 
and one of their Doctors, a Member of their 
Church, who saw him, said. It ivould he a Mira- 
cle if ever he recovered, he expecting the Flesh 
should rot off the Bones, who afterwards was 
banished upon pain of Death. There are many 
Witnesses of this there. 

6. Also an Innocent Man, an Inhabitant of 
Boston, they banished from his Wife and Cliil- 
dren, and put to seek an Habitation in the 
Winter, and in Case he returned again, he was 
to be kept Prisoner during his Life, and for re- 
turning again he was put in Prison, and hath 
been now a Prisoner above a year. 

7. Twenty Five Banishments upon the Penal- 
ties of being whipt, or having their Ears cut, or 
branded in the Hand, if they returned. 

8. Fines laid upon the Inhabitants for meet- 
ing together, and edifying one another, as the 
Saints ever did ; and for refusing to Swear, it 
being contrary to Christ's Command, amounting 
to about a Thousand Pounds, beside what they 



APPENDIX. 185 

have (lone since that we have not heard of, many 
Families, in which there are many Children, are 
almost ruined by their unmerciful Proceedings. 

9. Five kept Fifteen Days in all, without 
Food^ and Fifti/ Eight Days shut up close by 
the Gaoler, and had none that he knew of ; and 
from some of them he stopt up the Windows, 
hindring them from convenient Air. 

10. One laid Neck and Heels in Irons for Six- 
teen Hours. 

11. One very deeply burnt in the Right-Hand 
with the Letter (II) after he had been ivhipt 
with above Thirty Stripes. 

12. One chained to a Log of Wood the most 
Part of Twenty Days, in an open Prison, in the 
Winter- time. 

13. Five Appeals to England denied at Bos- 
ton. 

14. Three had their Right Ears cut by the 
Hangman in the Prison, the Door being barred, 
and not a Friend suffered to be present while it 
was doing, though some much desired it. 

15. One of the Inhabitants of Salem, who 
since is banished upon Pain of Death, had one 
Half of his House and Land seized on while he 
luas in Prison, a Month before he knew of it. 

16. At a General Court in Boston they made 
an Order, That those who had not where-ivithall 
to answer the Fines that were laid upon them 
for their Consciences, should be sold for Bond- 
men and Bondwomen to Barbadoes, Virginia, or 
any of the English Plantations. 



186 APPENDIX. 

17. Eighteen of the People of God were at 
several Times banished upon pain of Death ; six 
of them were their owu Inhabitants, two of 
which being very aged People, and well known 
among their Neighbours to be of honest Conver- 
sation, being banished from their Houses and 
Families, and put upon Travelling and other 
Hardships, soon ended their Days, whose Death 
we can do no less than charge upon the Rulers 
of Boston^ they being the Occasion of it. 

18. Also Three of the Servants of the Lord 
they put to Deaths all of them for Obedience to 
the Truth, in the Testimony of it, against the 
Wicked Rulers and Laws at Boston. 

19. And since they have banished Four more 
upon Pain of Death, and Twenty Four of the 
Inhabitants of Salem were presented, and more 
Fines called for, and their Goods seized on to 
the Value of Forty Pounds for meeting together 
in the Fear of God, and some for refusing to 
Swear. 

These Things, O King ! from Time to Time 
have we patiently suffered, and not for the 
Transgression of any just or righteous Law, 
either pertaining to the Worship of God, or the 
Civil Government of England, but simply and 
barely for our Consciences to God, of which we 
can more at large give thee, or whom thou 
mayst order, a full account (if thou will let us 
liave Admission to thee, who are banished upon 
Pain of Death, and have had our Ears cut, who 
are some of us in England attending upon thee) 



APPENDIX. 187 

botli of the Causes of our Sufferings^ and the 
Manner of their disorderly and illegal Proceedings 
against us; they began with Immodesty^ went 
on in Inhumanity and Cruelty, and were not 
satisfied until they had the Blood of Three of the 
Martyrs of Jesus : Revenge for all which we do 
not seek, but lay them before thee, considering 
thou hast been well acquainted with Sufferings, 
and so mayst the better consider them that suf- 
fer, and mayst for the future restrain the Vio- 
lence of tliese Rulers of New-England, having 
Power in thy Hands, they being but the Chil- 
dren of the Family of which thou art Chief 
Ruler, who have in divers their Proceedings ybr- 
feited their Patent, as upon strict Enquiry in 
many Particulars will appear. 

And this, O King ! we are assured of, that in 
Time to come it will not repent thee, if by a 
close Rebuke thou stoppest the Bloody Proceed- 
ings of these Bloody Persecutors, for in so doing 
thou wilt engage the Hearts of many honest 
People unto thee both there and here, and for 
such Works of Mercy the Blessing is obtained ; 
and showing it is the Way to prosper : We are 
Witnesses of these Things, who 

Besides many long Imprisonments, and many 
cruel Whippings, had our Ears cut, 

John Rouse 
John Copeland. 

Besides many long Imprisonments, divers cruel 
Whippings, with the seizing on our Goods, are 



188 APPENDIX. 

banished upon Pain of Deaths aud some of us 
do wait here in England, and desire that we may 
have an Order to return in Peace to our Fam- 
ilies, 

Samuel Shattock Josiah Southick 
Nicholas Phelps Joseph Nichqlson 
Jane Nicholson 

Commenting upon the above petition, Besse 



" This representation of their case to the King, 
with the earnest and incessant solicitations of Ed- 
ward Burrough, aud others, on their behalf, pro- 
cured a Mandamus from that Monarch by which 
an effectual stop was put to the proceedings in 
New-England of putting men to death for Relig- 
ion, by which their blind zeal and fury would 
otherwise probably have destroyed many inno- 
cent people. Nevertheless they yet continued 
by cruel whippings, and other barbarities to de- 
monstrate that they repented not of their former 
cruelty, but that they were restricted by force of 
the Kings authority, aud not from any alteration 
in their own tempers or inclinations, as will 
plainly appear by the narrative of their proceed- 
ings." 

It is probable that Besse is not entirely accu- 
rate in stating that the presentation of this peti- 
tion " procured a Mandamus," though it doubtless 
prepared the way for one. When it was presented 
the news of the execution of Leddra at Boston 
had not reached England. Sewei, who is an 



APPENDIX. 189 

earlier authority than Bessc, states that the king 
liad seen a copy of George Bishop's account of 
the "cruel persecution," and was so much af- 
fected by it that he resolved to interfere. His 
resolve was soon after confirmed by the " news 
of William Leddra's deatli." Edward Burrough 
having obtained an audience, said to the king, 
" There was a vein of innocent blood opened in 
his dominions, which if it were not stopped, 
would overrun all." To which he replied, " But 
I will stop that vein." The Mandamus was 
granted forthwith, and Shattuck was empowered 
to carry it to Boston. Whittier's poem, " The 
King's Missive," makes it unnecessary to repeat 
here a detailed account of Shattuck's arrivitl, for 
this poem is, or should be, in every American 
household. The reception of the Missive by 
the Massachusetts authorities placed them in a 
dilemma. They dare not ohey the command to 
send the prisoners to England for trial, ^ nor could 
they proceed with the cases in their own court. 
There was but one course left by which they 
could avoid a conflict with the Crown. Hither- 
to, gaol deliveries implied scourging and banish- 
ment of Quaker prisoners. For once, it was 
necessary to forego these pious festivities. Pros- 
ecution and persecution must be suspended tem- 
porarily ; such Quakers as were in gaol must be 
set at liberty. An order for their unconditional 
release and discharge was issued. Sewel gives 

1 Tho Quakers had repeatedly appealed to be sent to Eng- 
land for trial. 



190 APPENDIX. 

the text of the Royal Mandamus, and the or- 
der for the release of the Friends, as follows : — 

Charles R. 

Trusty and Well-beloved, We Greet you well. 
Having been informed that several of Our sub- 
jects amongst you, called Quakers, have been, 
and are Imprisoned by you, whereof some have 
been Executed, and others (as hath been re^Dre- 
sented unto us) are in danger to undergo tbe 
like : we have thought fit to signify our pleasure 
in that behalf, for the future ; aud do hereby re- 
quire, that if there be any of those people called 
Quakers amongst you, now already condemned 
to suffer death, or other corporal punishment, or 
that are imprisoned, and obnoxious to the like 
condemnation, you are to forbear to proceed any 
further therein ; but that you forthwith send the 
said persons (whether condemned or imprisoned) 
over into this our kingdom of England, together 
with the respective crimes or offenses laid to 
their charge ; to the end that such course may be 
taken with them here, as shall be agreeable to 
our laws, and their demerits. And for so doing, 
these our letters shall be your sufficient warrant 
and discharge. Given at our court at Whitehall, 
the dth day of September, 1661, in the IWi year 
of our reign. 

By his majesty s command, 

William Mokris. 

The superscription was, " To our Trusty and 



APPENDIX. 191 

Well-beloved, John Endicot, Esq. and to all and 
every other the governor, or governors, of our 
plantations of New-England, and of all the col- 
onies thereunto belonging, that now are, or here- 
after shall be ; and to all and every the ministers 
and officers of our said plantation and colonies 
whatsoever, within the continent of New-Eng- 
land." 

Orders for Release and Discharge of Quaker 
Prisoners} 

" To William Salter, keeper of the prison at 

Boston : 

You are required by authority, and order of 
the general court, forthwith to release and dis- 
ciiarge the Quakers, who at present are in your 
custody. See that you don't neglect this. 

By order of the court, 

Edward Ratvson, Secretary.'^ 

Boston, the dth of December, 1661. 

A Quaker jubilation ^ followed this gaol deliv- 
ery, but the liberty they enjoyed was of short du- 
ration. Fear of further interference from Eng- 
land having been allayed, the law of May 22, 
1661, with slight modification, was reenacted. 
This was done on the 8th of October, 1662. The 
fires of persecution were rekindled. John Endi- 
cott pursued the Friends with relentless cruelty 
until, in March, 1665, death ended his wicked 
and bloody career. 

1 Sewcl, p. 321. 2 Bessc, vol. ii. p. 22G. 



192 APPENDIX. 

Bellingham succeeded Endicott, but was less 
persistent, and instances of cruelty, under his ad- 
ministration, are not numerous. His clemency 
was due in part to the interference of royal com- 
missioners, who, on the 24th of May, 1665, sub- 
mitted a series of demands to the General Court, 
one of which was, that the Quakers should be 
allowed to attend to their secular business with- 
out molestation.-^ Bellingham died in December, 
1672. In November, 1675, persecution was re- 
vived by the passage of a law prohibiting Qua- 
ker meetings,^ and in May, 1677, it was further 
provided, that the constables should " make dili- 
gent search" for such meetings, and should 
" break open any door where peaceable entrance 
is denied them." ^ For a brief period it seemed 
as if the scenes of 1661 and 1662 were to be re- 
enacted. Men and women were seized, dragged 
to gaol, imprisoned, fed on bread and water, 
fined, and publicly whipped. In the 6th month 
(August) fourteen Quakers were taken at one 
meeting, and in the following week a second ar- 
rest of fifteen was made. Most, if not all of 
them, in addition to other punishment, suffered 
flogging at the whipping post. These are the 
latest cases of corporal punishment noted by 
Besse. The Friends rallied in increasing num- 
bers and once more the authorities were forced 
to respect their rights. It was during this period 
of excitement that Margaret Brewster was ap- 

1 Mass. Eecoi'ds, vol. iv. p. 212. 

2 Ibid. vol. V. p. 00. 3 JOld. p. 134. 



APPENDIX. 193 

prehended for the performance of an act which, 
however peculiar or fanatical it may be consid- 
ered, was refined and dignified as compared with 
the brutal indecency of the Court when she was 
on trial. The following report of the trial will 
well repay the reading. It is worth remarking 
that while INIargaret Brewster furnishes Puritan 
apologists with most productive capital, no one 
of them has yet acknowledged the obligation by 
naming the cause of her performance, the cir- 
cumstances attending it, the conduct of her 
judges, or the punishment meted out to her. 



Trial, or Examination, of Margaret Brewster, 
and others, at the Court in Boston, on the ^th 
of the Sixth Month, 1677.^ 

Cleric. Margaret Brewster 

M. B. Here. 

Clerh. Are you the Woman ? 

M. B. Yes, I am the Woman. 

Governour.' Read the Mittimus. 

The Mittimus was read. 

Governour, to the People. What have you to 
lay to her Charge ? 

Constable. If this be the Woman, I don't 
know ; for she was then in the Shape of a Devil : 
I thought her hair had been a Perriwigg, but it 
was her own Hair. 

The Constable said more, but so faintly and 
low as not to be understood. 

1 Besse, vol. ii. pp. 261-265. 

2 John Leverett. 

13 



194 APPENDIX. 

Gov. You hear your Accusation. 

M. B. I do not hear it. 

Gov. Are you the Woman that came mto Mr. 
Thatcher's Meeting-house with your Hair fru- 
zled, and dressed in the ShajDe of a Devil ? 

31. B. I am the Woman that came into Priest 
Thatcher's House of Worship with my Hair 
about my Shoulders, Ashes upon my Head, my 
Face coloured black, and Sackcloth upon my 
upper Garments. 

Gov. You own yourself to be the Woman. 

M. B. Yea, I do. 

Gov. What made you come so ? 

M. B. I came in Obedience to the Lord. 

Gov. The Lord ! The Lord never sent you, for 
you came like a Devil, and in the Shape of a 
Devil incarnate. 

M. B. Noble Governour ! Thy Name is 
spread in other Parts of the World for a mod- 
erate Man, now I desire thee and thy Assistants 
to hear me with Patience, that I may give an Ac- 
count of my so coming among you. 

Gov. Too moderate for such as you : But go 
on. 

31. B. The Lord God of Heaven and Earth, 
the Maker and Creator of all Man kind, laid this 
Service upon me more than three Years ago to 
visit this bloody Town of Boston. 

Here some spake to the Governour to stop her 
from speaking any more ; but the Governour 
said, Let her go on. 

31. B. And when the appointed Time drew 



APPENDIX. 195 

near, the Lord pleased to visit me with Sickness, 
before I could clearly give up to this Service, 
and as I may say, I was raised as one from the 
Dead, and came from my sick Bed to visit the 
bloody Town of Boston, and to bear a living Tes- 
timony for the God of my Life, and go as a Sign 
among you ; and as I gave up to this Service, my 
Sickness went away. It is said the Prophet 
Jonah was three Days in the Whale's Belly, but 
I could compare my Condition to nothing, but as 
if I had been in the Belly of Hell for many 
Weeks, and I think I may so say for some 
Months, until I gave up to this Service; and 
now if you be suffered to take away my Life, 
I am very well contented. 

Gov. You shall escape with your Life. 

Simon Broadstreet. You are a Blasphemer. 

^f. B. I have not blasphemed. 

aS. Broadstreet. I cannot believe what you say 
to be true. 

M. B. Canst thou not believe? Well, I am 
sorry thou canst not believe. 

Gov. Are you a married Woman ? 

M. B. I am. 

Gov. Did your Husband give Consent to your 
Coming ? 

M. B. Yea, he did. 

Gov. Have you any Thing to shew under his 
Hand? 

M. B. He gave his Consent before many Wit- 
nesses in Barbadoes, and said. He did believe this 
Service was of God, and he durst not withstand 



196 APPENDIX. 

it, but was willing to give me up to this Ser- 
vice, as many in Barbadoes can witness ; and 
now, if you be suffered to take away my Life, 
I can now lay down my Head in Peace, for I 
have thus far done what the Lord required at my 
Hands, and am clear of the Blood of all People 
in this Place, so far as I know ; and the Desire 
of my Soul is, that it may be with this Town as 
it was with Nineveh of old, for when the Lord 
sent his Prophet Jonah to cry against Nineveh, 
it is said. They put on Sackcloth, and covered 
their Heads with Ashes, and repented, and the 
Lord withdrew his Judgments for forty Years : 
And my Soul cries to the Lord that this People 
may repent, that the Lord may spare them yet 
forty Years : For it was in true Obedience to 
the Lord, and in Love to your Souls, that I was 
made to come as a Sign amongst you, for I feel 
that in my Heart at this Moment, that I could 
even o-ive up my Life, to be sacrificed for the 
Good of your Souls. I have notliing but Love 
in my Heart to the worst of my Enemies here in 
this Town. 

Gov. Hold, hold Woman, you run too fast. 
Silence in the Court. 

M. B. Governour ! I desire thee to hear me a 
little, for I have something to say in Behalf of my 
Friends in this Place : I desire thee and thine 
Assistants to put an End to these cruel Laws that 
you have made to prosecute my Friends for meet- 
ing together to worship the True and Living 
God. Oh Governour ! I cannot but press thee 



APPENDIX. 197 

again and again, to put an End to these crnel 
Laws that you have made to fetch my Friends 
from their peaceable Meetings, and keep them 
three Days in the House of Correction, and then 
whip them for worshipping the True and Living 
God : Governour ! Let me entreat thee to put 
an End to tliese Laws, for the Desire of my Soul 
is, that you may act for God, and then would you 
prosper, but if you act against the Lord and his 
blessed Truth, you will assuredly come to noth- 
ing, the Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it , for 
if you will draw your Swords against the Lord 
and his People, the Lord will assuredly draw his 
Sword against you ; for there nfever was any 
Weapon formed against God and his blessed Truth 
that ever prospered : It 's my Testimony for the 
Lord God of my Life. 

Gov. Hold Woman. Call Lydia Wright. 

Clerk. Call Lydia Wright of Long-Island. 

L. Wright. Here. 

Gov. Are you one of the Women that came in 
with this Woman into INIr. Thatcher's Meeting- 
house to disturb him at his Worship ? 

L. W. I was ; but I disturbed none, for I came 
in peaceably, and spake not a Word to Man, 
Woman, or Child. 

Gov. What came you for then ? 

L. W. Have you not made a Law that we 
should come to your Meeting ? For we were 
peaceably met together at our own Meeting-house, 
and some of your Constables came in, and haled 
some of our Friends out, and said. This is not a 



198 APPENDIX. 

Place for you to worship God in. Then we asked 
him, "Where we should worship God ? Then they 
said, We must come to your publick Worship. 
And upon the First-day following I had some- 
thing upon my Heart to come to your publick 
Worship, when we came in peaceably, and spake 
not a Word, yet we were haled to Prison, and 
there have been kept near a month. 

S. Broadstreet. Did you come there to hear 
the Word ? 

L. W. If the Word of God was there, I was 
ready to hear it. 

Gov. Did your Parents give Consent you 
should come thither ? 

L. W. Yes, my Mother did. 

Gov. Shew it. 

L. W. If you will stay till I can send Home, I 
will engage to get from under my Mother's Hand, 
that she gave her Consent. 

Juggins, a Magistrate, said. You are led by 
the Spirit of the Devil, to ramble up and down 
the Country, like Whores and Rogues a Cater- 
wawliug. 

L, W. Such Words do not become those who 
call themselves Christians, for they that sit to 
Judge for God in Matters of Conscience, ought 
to be sober and serious, for Sobriety becomes the 
People of God, for these are a weighty and pon- 
derous People. 

Gov. Did you own this Woman ? 

L. W. I own her, and have Unity with her, 
and I do believe so have all the faithful Servants 



APPENDIX. 199 

of the liOrd, for 1 know the Power and Presence 
of the Lord was with us. 

Juggins. You are mistaken : You do not know 
the Power of God ; you are led by the Spirit and 
Light within you, which is of the Devil : There 
is but one God, and you do not worship that God 
which we worship. 

L. W. I believe thou s[)eakest Truth, for if 
you worship})ed that God which we worship, you 
would not persecute his People, for we worship 
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the 
same God that Daniel worshipped. 

So they cried, Take her away. 

Then Mary Miles was called. 

Clerh. Mary Miles of Black-point. 

M. 31. I am here. 

Gov. Do you live at Black-point ? 

31. 31. Nay : My former Living was there, but 
my outward Living is now at Salem, when I am 
at Home. 

Gov. Are you a married Woman ? 

M. 31. Nay, I am not married. 

Gov. Did you come into Mr. Thatcher's Meet- 
ing-house with this AVoman that had a black 
Face ? 

31. 31. Yea, I did. 

Gov. What was the Cause ? 

31. 31. My Freedom was in the Lord, and in 
Obedience to his Will, and the Unity of his Spir- 
it, I came. 

Gov. So, so, then you had Unity with her, it 
seems, but you had not Communion with her, for 
you had not a black Face. 



200 APPENDIX. 

M. M. I had good Uuity with her, and do be- 
lieve, and witness, and hear my Testimony for 
the Lord, that it was his Work and Service that 
she went in ; therefore I had Unity and Fellow- 
ship with her, and the Lord in his due Time will 
reveal and manifest his own Work. 

Gov. Hold your Tongue, you prating House- 
wife ; you are led by the Spirit of the Devil to 
run about the Country a wandring, like Whores 
and Rogues. 

M. M. They that are led by the Spirit of God 
deny the Works of the Devil : The Earth is the 
Lord's and the Fulness thereof ; and he can com- 
mand his Servants to go wheresoever he pleaseth 
to send them ; and none can hinder his Power, 
for it is unlimited. 

Cryer, Take them away, and carry them to 
Prison. 

M. M. Yea, I am made willing to go to Prison, 
and to Death, if it were required of me to seal the 
Testimony of Jesus with my Blood, as some of 
my Friends and Brethren have done, whose 
Blood you have shed, which cries to the Lord for 
Vengeance, and the Cry will not cease till Ven- 
geance come upon you. 

Then Barbara Bowers was called. 

Margaret Brewster answered, Barbara Bowers 
was not concerned with us in this Service. 

Gov. Let us hear what she says. 

B. Bowers. I was in the Meeting-house, but did 
not go in with them. 

Then thoy were all carried to Prison again, 



APPENDIX. 201 

and about an Hour after brought again into the 
Court, when the Governour being present, the 
Clerk read the Sentence as follows, viz. 

Margaret Brewster, You are to have your 
Clothes stript off to the Middle, and to be tied to 
a Cart's Tail at the South Meeting-house, and to 
be drawn through the Town, and to receive 
twenty Stripes upon your naked Body. 

M. B. The Will of the Lord be done : I am 
contented. 

The Clerk proceeded, saying, Lydia Wright 
and jMary Miles, You are to be tied to the Cart's 
Tail also. Barbara Bowers, you are to be tied 
also. 

31. Brewster. I told the Court before, that Bar- 
bara was not concerned with us in the Service, 
and therefore I desire you may remit her Sen- 
tence ; for I knew not of her Coming with us, 
neither did I see her with us, till we came into 
the Common-Gaol : Therefore I desire she may 
not suffer. 

Gov. Take her away. 

Gaoler. I am loth to pull you. 

31. B. I will go without pulling, and go as 
chearfully as Daniel went to the Lion's Den, for 
the God of Daniel is with me ; and the God of 
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, goes along with me : 
The same God that was with the three Children 
in the fiery Furnace goes with me now ; and I 
am glad that I am worthy to be a Sufferer in 
this Bloody Town, and to be numbred amongst 
my dearly and well-beloved Brethren and Sis- 



202 APPENDIX. 

ters, that sealed their Testimonies with their 
Blood. 

So they were carried to Prison again, this 
being the Seventh-day of the Week; and on 
the Fifth day following, the Sentence was exe- 
cuted. 

During the Examination of these "\Yomen, 
they appeared altogether unconcerned as to 
themselves, being fully resigned to whatsoever 
Sufferings might be their Portion ; stedfastly 
maintaining their full Assurance of a divine 
Call to the Service they went upon, and a per- 
fect Peace and Serenity of Mind in yielding 
Obedience thereunto : In all which they seem to 
have really exercised the Faith and Patience of 
the Saints and People of God. 



ABSTRACT FROM JOINT LETTER OF WIL- 
LIAM ROBINSON AND MARMADUKE STE- 
VENS ON.i 

We that are Free-born English-men, we de- 
mand our Liberty for the Exercise of our pure 
Consciences in this Country, as well as other 
English-men ; we being Free-born English-men, 
we may, by the Law of God, claim our Liberty 
before many other People : We who are not 
Transgressors of the Law of God, neither of 
any Law or Decree that is according thereunto. 
What is the Reason that we should be Banished 
upon Death, out of your Jurisdiction, more than 
1 New Enjland Judfjed, pp. 252-259. 



APPENDIX. 203 

any other People ? What, is it because we are 
Turners of the Worhl upside-down ? AVhat, is 
it because we are termed Ring-leaders of a Peo- 
ple, that are, in Scorn, called Quakers ? What, 
is it because the Laws of our God, which we 
Obey, are different from all the Unrighteous and 
Bloody Laws of New England ? What, is it 
because we cannot Obey the Commandment of 
the Rulers of New England, that have com- 
manded us to Bow to the Spirit that ruled in 
Haman, which now rules in these bloody Rulers 
of Boston, and elsewhere in New England? 
Nay, I say, the Lord our God hath Raised, and 
is Raising, the Royal Seed and Spirit that ruled 
in Mordecai, that could not, nor cannot Stoop 
nor Bow to the Spirit that ruleth in proud 
Haman : I say, see and behold, if the same 
Spirit rules not in you, ye Rulers, Chief Priests, 
and Inhabitants of Boston and elsewhere. . . . 
Are not you preparing a Gallows to Hang us 
thereon, as Haman did for Mordecai ? But, 
take heed, We Warn you in the Name of the 
Lord God, consider what you are going to 
do : In the Name of the Lord we demand, 
that we may have Liberty, for the Exercise 
of our pure Consciences, within your Juris- 
diction, as well as other English -men, seeing 
that you cannot lay to our Charge, the Trans- 
gression of any Law of God, we being Men 
that Fear the Lord God of Heaven and Earth ; 
and we come not for any Thing of yours, God 
is our Witness ; it is not for any Thing that 



204 APPENDIX. 

you have, that we come for ; for we do not 
hick auy outward Thing ; for many of us have 
both Houses and Land of our own, and Silver 
also, in Old England, so that we seek not any 
Thing that you have (God is our Witness, whom 
we Serve in the Spirit of Truth, who hath con- 
strained us to leave all, and to follow him) that 
it is not the World (that doth perish with the 
handling thereof) that we seek or labour for, but 
the Good and Eternal Welfare of the Sons of 
Men : For the Seed's sake, which is Oppressed 
in New England, and other parts of the World, 
do we Labour, and Travel, and Suffer all man- 
ner of Hardships : For Christ's sake are we 
become Fools, and do Suffer all manner of Evil 
to be done unto us. Christ said unto his Dis- 
ciples, They shall do all manner of Evil to you, 
for my Name sake; but those that did it, and 
those that do it, know neither God, nor his Son 
Jesus Christ, neither have they the Love of God 
abiding in them : ... It is written in the 
Warrant, whereby wis were Committed to Pris- 
on, That we shall be Tryed according to Law. 
We desire no more, than to be Tryed according 
to Equity, Truth, and true Judgment, to be 
Tryed according to the Law of God ; but your 
Law, you unjust Men, we deny to be Tryed by 
it ; for you are both our Accusers and Judges ; 
which is not according to the Law of God : For, 
Equity and Truth Judgeth and Condemneth all 
unsound Judgment, Unrighteousness, Partiality 
and Respecting of Persons. . . . This is a Warn- 



APPENDIX. 205 

ing to you all in New-England, who have had a 
Hand in persecuting the Saints and Children of 
the Lord (who are by you, in Scorn and Con- 
tempt, called Quakers). Give over your Cruehy; 
cease from Oppressing the Innocent ; for the 
Lord God hath regard unto their Sufferings, and 
the Lord God is Risen, and Arising, to plead 
their Cause against all their P^nemies, and all 
their Adversaries must fall before them ; for the 
Lord is with them, and the Shout of a Mighty 
Prince is among the Innocent People, called 
Quakers ; and this is the Day of their Suffering, 
and the Day of your Cruelties and Persecution 
upon them, within this New-England : But the 
Day of their Deliverance draweth near, and the 
Day wherein they shall Rejoyce in the Lord, 
the God of their Salvation, who is mighty to 
Save, and able to Deliver them out of the 
Hands, and out of the Mouths of Devourers, 
and from the Jaws of the Ungodly and Cruel 
Men; who will take Vengeance at that Day 
upon all bloody-minded Men and blind Perse- 
cutors : And at that Day you shall find that the 
Lord will be too hard for you, tho' you now 
Boast in your Wickedness. And thus far I am 
Clear, and have cleared my Conscience to you 
at this time : And whether you will hear, or for- 
bear, I am clear of your Blood : I who am now 
a Sufferer under you, with my Brother and Com- 
panion, whose Lives are not dear unto us, to lay 
them down as a Witness against such a Bloody, 
and Unrighteous, and Hypocritical Generation : 



206 APPENDIX. 

And this we are ready to Seal with our Blood, 
for the breaking of your Bloody Law. 

From us, who are in Scorn called Quakers, who 
are Sufferers under Zions Oppressors. The 6th 
Month, 1659. 
In the Common Gaol, in the Bloody Town of Bos- 
ton. 

William Robinson. 
Marmaduke Sevens on. 



LETTER OF MARY DYER.i 

The 2Sth of the Sth Month, 1659. 
Once more to the general court assembled 
in Boston, speaks Mary Dyar, even as before: 
my life is not accepted, neither availeth me, in 
comparison of the lives and liberty of the truth 
and servants of the living God, for which in the 
bowels of love and meekness I sought you : yet, 
nevertheless, with wicked hands have you put 
two of them to death, which makes me to feel, 
that the mercies of the wicked are cruelty ; I 
rather choose to die than to live, as from you, as 
guilty of their innocent blood : therefore seeing 
my request is hindered, I leave you to the right- 
eous Judge, and searcher of all hearts, who, with 
the pure measure of light he hath given to every 
man to profit withal, will in his due time let you 
see whose servants you are, and of whom you 
have taken counsel, which I desire you to search 
into : but all his counsel hath been slighted, and 
1 Sewel's History of the Qualers, p. 265. 



APPENDIX. 207 

you would none of his reproofs. Read your 
portion, Prov. i. 2,4 to 32. For verily the night 
Cometh on you apace, wherein no man can work, 
in which you shall assuredly fall to your own 
master. In obedience to the Lord, whom I serve 
with my spirit, and pity to your souls, which you 
neither know nor pity, I can do no less than once 
more to warn you, to put away the evil of your 
doings, and kiss the son, the light in you, before 
his wrath be kindled in you ; for where it is, 
nothing without you can help or deliver you out 
of his hand at all ; and if these things be not so, 
then say, ' there hath been no prophet from the 
Lord sent amongst you.' Though we be nothing, 
yet it is his pleasure, by things that are not, to 
bring to naught things that are. 

When I heard your last order read, it was a 
disturbance unto me, that was so freely offering 
up my life to him that gave it me, and sent me 
hither so to do, which obedience being his own 
work, he gloriously accompanied with his pres- 
ence, and peace, and love in me, in which I 
rested from my labour ; till by your order and 
the people, I was so far disturbed, that I could 
not retain any more of the words thereof, than 
that I should return to prison, and there remain 
forty and eight hours ; to which I submitted, 
finding nothing from the Lord to the contrary, 
that I may know what his pleasure and counsel 
is concerning me, on whom I wait therefore, for 
he is my life, and the length of my days ; and as 
I said before, I came at his command, and go at 
his command. Mary Dyaii. 



208 APPENDIX. 



ABSTRACT OF LETTER FROM WILLIAM 
LEDDRA WRITTEN TO HIS FRIENDS ON 
THE DAY BEFORE HIS EXECUTION.i 

3Iost dear and inwardly beloved, 

The sweet influences of the Morning-Star, like 
a flood distilling into my innocent habitation, 
hath so filled me with the joy of the Lord in the 
beauty of holiness, that my spirit, is as if it did 
not inhabit a tabernacle of clay, but is wholly 
swallowed up in the bosom of eternity, from 
whence it had its being. 

Alas, alas, what can the wrath and spirit of 
man, that lusteth to envy, aggravated by the heat 
and strength of the king of the locusts, which 
came out of the jiit, do unto one tliat is hid in 
the secret places of the Almighty? Or unto 
them that are gathered under the healing wings 
of the prince of peace ? under whose armour of 
light they shall be able to stand in the day of 
trial, having on the breast-plate of righteousness, 
and the sword of the spirit, which is their weapon 
of war against spiritual wickedness, principalities 
and powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this 
world, both within and without ! Oh, my be- 
loved! I have waited as a dove at the windows 
of the ark, and have stood still in that watch, 
which the Master, (without whom I could do 
nothing) did at his coming reward with fulness 
of his love, wherein my heart did rejoice, that I 
might in the love and life of God, speak a few 
i Sewel, p. 312. 



APPENDIX, 209 

words to you sealed with the spirit of promise, 
that the taste thereof might be a savour of life, 
to your life, and a testimony iii you of my inno- 
cent death : and if I had been altogether silent, 
and the Lord had not opened my mouth unto 
you, yet he would have opened your hearts, and 
there have sealed my innocency with t]ie streams 
of life, by which we are all baptized into that 
body which is in God, whom, and in whose pres- 
ence there is life ; in which, as you abide, you 
stand upon the pillar and ground of truth : for, 
the life being the truth and the way, go not one 
step without it, lest you should compass a moun- 
tain in the ivilderness ; for, unto e.verythiafj there is 
a season. . . . fear not what they can do unto 
you : greater is he that is in you, than he that is 
in the world: for he will clothe you with humil- 
ity, and in the power of his meekness you shall 
reign over all the rage of your enemies in the 
favour of God ; wherein, as you stand in faith, 
ye are the salt of the earth ; for, . many seeing 
your good works, may glorify God in the day of 
their visitation. 

Take heed of receiving that which you saw 
not in the liglit, lest you give ear to the enemy. 
Bring all things to the light, that they may be 
proved, whether they he wrought in God ; the love 
of the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust 
of the eye, are without the light, in the world ; 
therefore possess your vessels in all sanctilica- 
tion and honour, and let your eye look at the 
mark : he that hath called you is holy : and if 
14 



210 APPENDIX. 

there be an eye that offends, pluck it out, and 
cast it from you : let not a temptation take hokl, 
for if you do, it will keep from the favour of 
God, and that will be a sad state ; for, without 
grace possessed, there is no assurance of salva- 
tion : by grace you are saved ; and the witness- 
ing of it is sufficient for you, to which I com- 
mend you all, my dear friends, and in it remain, 
Your hr other, 

William Leddra. 
Boston gaol, the 13tli of the First Month, 16f f 



DAXIEL GOULD'S LETTEE.^ 
To the rulers S^ peopele of the toim S^ Jurisdiction 

of bostene. 

It is writen in the criptuars w°^ you say is 
3'ouar rule, y* Christ sayed, lern of me. Whear 
is it writen or declared in the criptuars y* Christ 
ever tought or commanded eny to parciquet, to 
put in prison or to bannish any for thear relegin ; 
but is it not writen to the contry, & did not he 
say to his desippels, let them alone, these be 
blind leders. Now if we wch yee call quakrs be 
the blind leaders then see if you do not mak it 
manifest also that you . . . For his desipels 
obayed his command & let them alowen, but y*^ 
do not. Now what doe you exspect to be judged 
by when your own condems you so plainly. Con- 
seder it well, the blind ledars were them that did 
not belive in the light but denyed the light and 
1 Massachusetts Archives, vol. x. p. 2G5. 



APPENDIX. 211 

would dim up sum other way & so be in tlio 
wrong way, there foar caled blind leders out of 
the light. . . . Again consider of whom yee 
lerne, for Christ said to his desi[)els, resist not 
evel, but yee have put in prison & banished 
them that have dune you no wrong nor thoght 
eny towards you. And Peter speking of his suf- 
arings, said he left us an exsampell y* we should 
follow his steps ; now thearfore consider in youer 
selves & in your secrit chambers lay it to hart 
and with the true light which will deceive no 
man, sarch & see in whose steps ye are, whether 
in the steps of the sufarars or in the steps of the 
pursi(pitars, for I am greved to see your cruelty 
and your hard hartednes against a peopell that 
cannot flatar you nor willfully doe you eny 
wrong, but if any should doe you any wrong or 
trespas against eny man, let a rightus law take 
hold of such ; but what ned any law be made 
against the innosent ; those y* doe you noe wrong. 
. . . Couserning religun lete every one be fully 
parsvvaded in his owen mind & worship acording 
as God shal preswad his owne hart, & if any wor- 
ship not God as thay ought to doe & yet liveth 
quietly & pesably with ther naibers & contery 
men & doth them noe wrong, is it not safar 
for you to let them aloene to receive thear re- 
ward from him who said I will render venganse 
to myne ennmy^ & reward them that hate me. 
Let God alone be Lord of the conscience & not 
man, & let us have the same liburty & freedom 
amongst yee as other ingleshmen hav to com and 



212 APPENDIX. 

visit owar frends & kindered, & doe that wich is 
honest & lawfal to be done in bying or seling ; 
and if any have amind to reason or s,\)Qk. con- 
sarning the way and worshijj of God, that thay 
may not be put in prison or punished for it ; soe 
let peopel have libarty to try all thing & hold 
fast that which is good : I allso desiar you serisly 
to consider & give me an answar to these towe 
querys. . . . whether Gallio did well being a 
deputy, yea or nay, when the Jewse brough 
Paule to the jidgment seate, saying this felow 
preswads peopell to worship God contrary to the 
law, & his ansar was, if it wear a matar of wrong 
or wicked leudnes to y*^ Jewes, reason would that 
I should bear with you, but if it be a questyou 
of words or names of yor law, lok you to it, for 
I will be no judg on such matters ; & he drove 
them fram the Judgment seat. Acts the 18"', 13, 
14, 15, 16. Whether Gemaliall, being a doctor of 
law, did councell well, yea or nay, when . . . 
took counsel to kill the apostels after hee had 
told them of sume that were scatared & brought 
to naught, & said, take hede to your selvs of 
what you intend to doe touching these men and 
let them alone, for if this counsel or this work 
be of man it will came to naught but if it be of 
God yee cannot overthrow it, lest yee be found 
fighters against God. Read the Acts, 5*^ from 
DO to 40. Dannial goulld 

rod Ilaud the 3 month 1660. 



APPENDIX. 213 



LETTER FROM MARY TRASKE AND MAR- 
GARET SMITH, ACCUSING THE GOVERN- 
MENT.! 

To Thee John Indicot & y^ rest of y^ rulers 
of this jurisdiction, who are given up to figlit 
ag«* yc Lord & his truth in this y*^ day wherein 
its springing forth, & by y*^ comlines of it hath 
y^ Lord o"" God constrained us to take up y*^ cross 
and to follow him through greate tryalls & suffer- 
ings as to y*^ outward. And herein we can rejoyce 
y* we are counted worthy & called hereunto to 
beare our testimony against a cruell & hard- 
hearted people who are slighting y® day of yo"" 
visitation & foolishly requiting y*^ Lord for his 
goodnes, & shamefully intreated his hidden ones 
whom he hath sent amongst yo^^ to call yo^^ from 
y*' evill of yo"" waies, y* yee might come w"^ them 
to partake of his love & feel his life & power in 
yo"" owne hearts ; y* with us y^'' might have been' 
brought to be subject to y'' higher power, Christ 
Jesus ; whom yo'"" should have been obedient to 
and hearkned to his judgments while he stood at 
y^ dore & knocked (for he will not alwaies strive 
w**^ man) & then it should have been well w*'^ 
yo^. But seing yee are gone from this y* leadeth 
into tendernes, love & meeknes, & to doe imto 
all as yo^"" would be done unto ; therefore yee 
are given up unto a Spirit of Error & hardnes 
of heart & blindnes of mind ; y° eye of yo"" minds 
being blinded by y*^ god of this world ; so y' yo'^ 

1 Massachusetts Archives, vol. x. p. 2G7. 



214 APPENDIX. 

cannot se our life w^^ is hid w*'' Christ in God, 
who is become our light & life & hope of glory 
and our exceeding greate reward ; in whom we 
doe reigne ; yea surely y*^ God of Jacob is w"^ us 
w*ever yo" may be able to say against us : for be- 
hold y*^ Lord our God is arising as a mighty and 
terrible one to plead y'^ cause of his people and 
to cleare y^ cause of y^ innocent ; but surely he 
will in no wise acquit y^ guilty who have shed 
y^ bloud of y® innocent ; & yee shall assuredly 
feel his judgments who have wilfully put forth 
yo^ hands against his Chosen ; & yee have cut 
of y*^ righteous from amongst yo^ & are still tak- 
ing councell against y*^ Lord, to proceed against 
more of his people, but this know, y^ Lord our 
God will confound yo"" councell & lay your glory 
in y^ dust, & to whom will yo'' flee for help ; 
whither will yo" goe to hide yo'" selves ; for verely 
y'^ Lord will strip of all yo' coverings, for yo" are 
not covered with y*^ Spirit of y*^ Lord, therefore 
y*^ wo is gone out against yo^ ; for yo' place of 
defence is a refuge of lies & under falsehoods 
yee have hid your selves ; wo : wo : unto yo^ for 
yo" have forsaken y*^ Lord, y^ fountaine of living 
water, & are greedily swallowing y^ pointed wat- 
ers y* comes through y^ stinking channell of yo'" 
hireling masters unclean spirits, whom Christ 
cries wo against, & who cannot cease from sin, 
having hearts exercised w*^ coveteous practices : 
wo unto them (saith y® scripture) for they have 
run greedily after y^ Error of Balaam who loved 
y^ wages of unrighteousnes ; & are seeking in- 



APPENDIX. 215 

chantments against y*' seed of Jacob ; but there 
divinations against Israeli y^ Lord will confound; 
and all yo"" wicked councells bring to nought : wo 
unto yo" y* decree unrighteous decrees & write 
greiviousnes, y* yo" have prescribed to turne 
away y*^ poore & needy from there right. Have 
ye not sold yo'" selves to worke wickednes, & are 
strengthning yo'" selves in your abomination till 
y'' measure of your iniquity be full ; surely y^ 
overflowing scourge will pas over yo" & sweep 
away yo*" refuge of lies, & yo"" covenant w*^ hell 
shall be disanulled ; for loe, destruction & misery 
is in yo'' way & y® way of peace yee doe not 
know, for yo" are gone from y® good old way 
after yo'" owne waies, therefore y*^ way of holi- 
nes is hid from your eyes. O y* yo" had owned 
y*= day of yo'' visitation before it had been to 
late, & had hearkned to y® voice of his servants 
whom he hath sent unto yo" againe & againe in 
love & tendernes to yo*" soules ; but yo" would 
not hearken unto y^ Lord when he called, there- 
fore when yo"" cry & call he will not heare yo". 
Although you may call unto him yet he will not 
answer ; he will laugh at yo*" calamity when it 
Cometh ; for yo" have set at nought all his coun- 
cell, & have chosen rather to walke in yo"" owne 
councell ; but this know, y* if you had hearkned 
to y*' councell of y"" Lord (y^ light) w'^*^ is now 
yo'' condemnation, & had waited there to know 
his will ; then yo" should have knowne it ; and 
then these wicked lawes had never been made 
nor prosecuted by yo", w*^'^ yo" have made in yo"" 



216 APPENDIX. 

owne wills, contrary to y^ law of God, w*^^ is pure 
and leadeth all y* yeldeth obedience to it into 
purity & holines of life. And for our being obe- 
dient to this law w*^^ y® Lord hath written in our 
hearts, we are hated & persecuted by yo"" who are 
in Cains nature murdering y^ just; yea, surely 
y° cause is y^ Lords, for w'^'' we have suffered all 
this time, & y*^ battell is y^ Lords, & he will arise 
and stand up for them y* faithfully beares forth 
there testimony to y® end. And yee shall be 
as broken vessells before him which cannot be 
joyned together againe ; therefore feare et trem- 
ble before y*^ Lord, who is coming upon yo"^ as a 
theife in y^ night ; from whom yo" shall not be 
able to hide your selves, & will reward yo" ac- 
cording to yo'" workes ; whose judgments are just ; 
and he is risen to plead w*"^ unjust rulers preists 
and people, who are joyned together in a profes- 
sion of godlines, & glorying in it but denying y® 
power thereof in them where it apeares ; but your 
glorying will be turned into shame & confusion of 
face, & yo"" beauty will be as a fading flower w'^'^ 
suddenly withereth av/ay ; & this yo"^ shall find 
to be true in y° day when y*^ Lord shall accom- 
plish it upon yo". And we have written to cleare 
our conscience, & if yo^ should account us yo"^ 
enemies for speaking y*^ truth, & heat y*' furnace 
of our affliction hotter, yet know we shall not 
fall downe & worship yo*" wills ; neither esteeme 
all y*" dumb idolls, after w*'^ yo'' are led, of no 
other use but to be throwne aside to y*' moles and 
y^ batts, for so is y^ shadows (if it were of good 



APPENDIX. 217 

things to come) to y*' substance, & y* w'^'' seemed 
glorious luitli no glory in respect of y' vv'"'' ex- 
celletli ; & all the sufferings y* we have endured 
(from yo") for Christ hath not at all marrd his 
visage to us, but we still se more beauty in him; 
well knowing, y* as they did unto him so they 
will doe unto us, & now they are come to pas, we 
remember y' he said these things. 

Mary Traske 
Margaret Smith 
From yo'" house of Correction where wc have been 
unjustly restrained from o'' children & habitations 
one of us above tenn months & y* other about 
eight; & where we are yet continued by yo' ©pres- 
sors y' knows no shame ; 
Boston 21"" of y" lO-"'" 1660 ; 



JOHN BURSTOW'S LETTER.i 
The day of yu"" visitation is gon over yu"" heads : 
when yee had y" light yee walked not in it ; then 
darkness overtooke you & y^ light judged & con- 
demned you : then yee hated y*' light because 
yu"" deeds wear evil, & now yee are in y*^ night 
wherin noe man can worke or doe any thing 
w*^'' is exsepted of y*" Lord. Your prayers are 
sinne & stinke, & an ill saver are you to y^ Lord 
ou*" God, & yu"" assemblies are an abomination to 
y*' Lord ; yu'" hands are defiUed w*'' blood : yu"" 
eyes are full of adultery & yu"" harts is as a caige 
of unclean spirits, & y* w*^*" should be a house of 
1 Massachusetts Archives, vol. x p. 269. 



218 APPENDIX. 

prayer is become a clenn of theiv^es & robers, and 
yee comitt ludeness & are joyued w*^ y^ destruc- 
tion w'*^ is swiftly coming upon you : yee y* have 
an eare to beer, barken & com forth from among 
them, y* yee may be as fier brands plucted out 
of y^ fier, for as sartainely as y^ plauges was 
powered forth upon hard harted Faro, shall y^ 
plauges & judgements of y® Lord be powered 
forth upon y^ inhabitanc of this towne of bos- 
ton ; & then yee shall know who are y^ faulce 
prophets ; wheather we w*^'^ pronounce judge- 
ments & plauges, or yu'" hierling prists w°^ spacke 
peace to you whilest you put into their mouth. 
And they are blind leaders of y^ blind, & yee 
shall fall & perish : boath yee & yu'" prists whose 
king is the angell of y*^ botomless pit ; & out of 
y^ botomless pitt have thay their wisdom w^'^ thay 
feede you w**^; all w*^^ is earthly, sencuall, divil- 
ish. And this earthly & durty wisdom is y^ sar- 
pents meat w'^'^ is had in you : but now is y*^ seed 
of y^ woman made manifest to bruse y® sarpents 
head : and wee tread upon scorpions & handell 
sarpents & cast out unclean spirits by y'^ power 
of y® Lord, and thay cannot hurte or destroy, in 
all his holy mountaine. 

Who can make a sej^eration betwixt y*^ presh- 
ous & y^ ville amongst you : or who can deserne 
betwixt y*^ clean & y^ unclean amongst you, for 
y'' word of y® Lord is gon forth & y*^ decree of y® 
Lord is sealed, & thus it is fellen out to this 
wicked & untoward generation whose last estate 
is worse then their beginning ; whose house was 



APPENDIX. 219 

once swept and garnished, but a spirit seven 
times worse is entered into them & y*^ parfection 
of wickedness is among them. This is y'' word of 
truth seen & declered in y*' light w*^'' tryeth and 
deserneth all spirits, wheather thay will heer or 
forbear. Saith y^ Lord spacke thou unto them, 
but thay will not harken unto thee, for thay will 
not harken unto me, y'' light w*^'^ reproveth them 
and woundeth them in y'' secrets of their harts, 
but thay have revolted more & mor & have not 
greived nor remembred the affection of Joseph 
but have comitted whordoms against y*^ Lord 
and joyned w*^' y** adulterated spirit w°^ huntes 
after y'^ preshaus life to destroy it. There for y* 
w*^*" is for destruction to destruction, y* w^*^ is y° 
sword to y*^ sword, y* w^^ is for fier to y*' fier. 
And this shall be the end of them all : he y* is 
unjust lett him be unjust still : he y* is filthy lett 
him be filthy still, & he y* is righteous let him be 
righteous still, & he y* is holy let him be holy 
still. And to y* w*^^ yee are joyned to shall yee 
take yo^ portion. And y*^ reward of yu*^ workes 
mine eye shall not pitty : or regard yu*" crye when 
in y® bitterness of yu'' soules yee cry out for y^ 
extreame anguish & horror w*^^^ shall be on yu"^ 
spirits ; but as I have called & you regarded not, 
soe shall you call & cry, but I will not answer 
you w*^ y*^ least drope of water or mixtuer of 
peace to Ease y* spirit, w*^^ shall be tormented, 
but y® druges & y*^ cup shall yee drinke, w*^^ is 
prepared for you w%ut mixtuer. Lett not yu'" 
prists deceive you by spaking peace to you, for 



220 APPENDIX. 

you & thay shall be cast into y*' bed of torment 
together. 

This is y^ word of truth to you : Declared in 
y^ Life & power of y^ Lord. 

John. Burstow 

Boston Jayell : 

The First day of y* 4 month 
1661. 



LETTER FROM JOSIAH SUTHICK, A QUA- 
KER, TO THE DEPUTIES ASSEMBLED IN 
THE GENERAL COURT.i 

Freinds a few lines I thought good to lay be- 
fore you, being moved by y^ Lord therunto. . . . 
O freinds, for so I can call you : I am at enmiti 
with nothing in you but y* w^^' sets it selfe ags* y'' 
libertie of y*" Lords redeemed ones : w*^^ is to serve 
y*^ Lord w^^ y° whole hart & y^ spiret, & not in y® 
leter : whose praise is not of men but of God : 
what shall I say or how shall I speake unto you : 
let prejudices & ungrounded jelosies be set aside: 
and let us reason togeather : . . . take heed you 
take not y^ place of God upon you to judg where 
God would hav you judg your selvs : for this 
know y* y*' god of heaven, hath searched our 
harts : & discovered to us y"^ truth, & for folow- 
ing & obeying y^ truthe are wee made ofenders 
and transgressors of your lawes & hath rather 
chose to suffer under y™ nor obey y°^ : because 
we have sertiuly found y* your wills & require- 
ings have bene contrari unto y® will of our God, 
1 Massachusetts Archives, vol. x. pp. 251, 252. 



APPENDIX. 221 

therfore we dare not submit to y"^ in obeying y"^: 
. . . Did Clu'ist persecute them y* called him a 
blasphemer or did he desire ani bodili punish- 
ment on them y* sayd hee cast out divells by 
belsebub y^ princ of divells : is not his counsell 
other weise ; did not he say love your ene- 
mies, bless y"^ y* curss you, doe good to y™ y* 
hate you, pray for y"^ y* despitefully use you and 
persecute you : y* yee may bee y*^ children of 
your father which is in heaven ; for he maketh 
his sun to rise on y*^ just & on y*^ unjust : and 
maketh his rayne to rain on y® evile & on y*^ 
good : some have sayd wee were y^ persecuters ; 
but wee know wee are y® persecuted, yet wee can 
freely say, y^ Lord lay not your sin to your 
charge, for T beleve mani of you know not what 
you doe : . . . doth not Christ say, hee y* smiteth 
thee on y^ one cheek turn to him y*^ other also : 
have you such a spiret in you : ... is it y* 
spiret y* doth so rage when it is not honored or 
bowed too : consider your selvs & deale playnely 
wth your own harts be not deceivde . . . have 
you not a law made by w'^'' you can make all doe 
as you doe & as it were say as you say, or else to 
y^ prisson & whiping poste : . . . . are you not 
out of y'* right way : doe such actions proseed 
from the spirete of Christ or y° spiret of meek- 
nes wch y*" falen brother is to be recovered with : 
. . . where Christ sayth doe good, there you 
doe evil : where hee sayth love, there do you 
hate : where hee sayth hold your hand, there doe 
you smite : where hee sayth judg your selvs, 



222 APPENDIX. 

tbeire doe yee judg others & leave your selvs 
un judged, & with y* spiret w*^*^ is un judged in 
your selvs, doe yee judg us & condemn us, but it 
revileth us not, for wee have y* peec you cannot 
give nor take away : . . . But hee y* knoweth 
my hart knoweth I desire nothing more then y* 
you may know him & return unto him you have 
fought against: for what you doe unto any of 
Cln-ist's servants, hee looks upon it as don unto 
himself : let these lines not be slited by you, but 
what you aprehend is not acording to truthe in 
y"\ let me have a reply derected unto a freind 
of y^ Lord & a prissoner for keeping his com- 
mands : who am with held from my fameli voca- 
tions & kept in y® house of opression in boston. 
Known by name Josiah Suthick . . . From my 
hart I wish you may doe y^ thing y* is right be- 
fore y^ Lord : wch you will doe as his counsell 
you take : wch in a word is this ; doe unto all 
men as yee would hav y™ doe unto you : & in 
y* you will liave peace : & wether you heare or 
forbeare, I am cleer of 3^ou before the Lord, the 
God of my salvation in whom I trust & desire 
for ever to follow & obey both in prosperiti and 
in adversity. J. S. 

They lust after bloud, it is just with God they 
should have bloud to drink. From y^ house of 
corection in boston, y^ 21 of y^ 8 mo*'' 61. 

For y° hands of ye Deputies in Generall, at 
present asembled in Boston. Let this be read 
amongst you, because it conserns you all. 



raDEX. 



Allen's (R. H.) Keio England 
Triif)p(li(',s in Prose criticised, 
54, 7:3. 

Ambrose, Alice, publicly 
wliippeJ, 100. 

Austin, Ami, arrives in Boston, 
34 ; her arrest and persecu- 
tion, 35-40. 

Barclay, Robert, humiliates him- 
self, G-8 ; his views on the 
Scriptures, 18 ; on the civil 
law and magistracy, 26 ; his 
qualifications as a writer, 28. 

Barclay's (Robert) Ajwlogi/, 17, 
28; Catechism, 28; Anarchy 
of the Ranters, 28. 

Batter, Edmund, treasurer of 
Salem, 50 ; insults a Quaker 
woman, 51 ; attempts to seU 
the Southwicks, 52 ; perse- 
cutes the Quakers, 9(5. 

Baxter, Richard, on the Inward 
Liglit, 10. 

Belliiigham, Gov. Richard, con- 
venes tlie council for banish- 
ment of Aim Austin and Mary 
Fialier, 30 ; succeeds Eudicott, 
192 ; death of, 192. 

Besse's (Joseph) Collection of 
Sajferings, 72, 183, 188. 

Biddle, John, the father of Eng- 
lish Unitarians, 4. 

Bishop's (George) Xew England 
Judqed, 30, 40, 43, GO, 70, 94, 
90, i04, 102, 172, 175, 202. 

"Body of the Liberties," the, 
extracts from, 34, 71. 

Bowers, Barbara, trial of, 200. 

Brend, William, barbarous treat- 
ment of, 57, 02-07. 

Brewrfter, M a-garet, 99, 104 ; 
trial of, 193-202. 



Brigham, Judge William, on the 
Quakers in New Plymouth Col- 
ony, 115. 

Brome's (James) Travels over 
Scotland, England, and Wales, 
8,10. 

Bryant and Gay's Popnlar Ilis- 
tory of the United States, 105. 

Burden, Anne, 111 ; imprisoned 
and banished, 112. 

Burrough, Edward, 21, 25 ; his 
appeivl to the King, 188. 

Burstow, John, letter of, to liis 
persecutors, 87, 217. 

Carlyle's (Thomas) opinion of 
George Fox, 13. 

Charles I. , overthrow of, 2. 

Charles II., King of England, 
orders laws against the Qua- 
kers suspended, 55, 189. 

Cliattam, Catherine, dresses in 
sackcloth and ashes, 97. 

Chaimcey, Charles, President of 
Harvard College, 94. 

Christison, Wenlock, letter of, 
GO ; sentenced to death, Gl ; 
liis speech to the court, 87 ; 
harbored by Eliakim Ward- 
well, 100. 

Coddington, WQliam, 33. 

Coercion and persecution under 
Cliarles II. and James II., 3. 

Coit's (Thomas Winthrop) Puri- 
tanism, 10, 11, 12. 

Coleman, Ann, torture of, G2, 90. 

Colonial laws for suppression of 
the Quakers, 133-152. 

Copeland, Jolm, 111; petitions 
the King in behalf of the iM is- 
sachusetts Quakers, 183-187. 

Cotton, Rev. Seaborn, a perse- 
cutor of the Quakers, 100. 



224 



INDEX. 



Cromwell, Oliver, 3. 

Cudworth, James, proscribed for 
entertaining Quakers, 113 ; let- 
ter of, 114, 102. 

Dexter's (Rev. H. M.) As to 
Roger Williams, 61 ; its calum- 
nies against the Quakers,73-T5. 

Dyer, Mary, sentenced to death, 
58 ; reprieved and subse- 
quently executed, GO ; her let- 
ter to the General Court, 89 ; 
her courageous bearing. 111 ; 
letter of, 20G. 

Early Quakers, doctrines of the, 
16-31. 

Edwards, Thomas, publishes the 
Grungraena, 5. 

Edmundson's (William) Journal, 
97. 

Ellis, Rev. George E., his treat- 
ment of the Quakers consid- 
ered, 78, 129 ; his inconsisten- 
cies, 79-82. 

Ellis's (Rev. George E.) Massa- 
chnsptts and its Early History, 
32, 82, 98, 125. 

EUwood, Thomas, 21. 

Eudicott, .John, Governor of Mas- 
sachusetts Colony, 33 ; bullies 
and threatens the Quakers, 43 ; 
denounced by Mary Prince, 
44 ; fines Upsall. 48 ; defends 
execution of the Quakers, 59 ; 
sentences Christisou to death, 
G2 ; letter of Mary Trask and 
Margaret Sniitli to, 84 ; re- 
ceives and obeys the King's 
Missive, 191 : renews his per- 
secutions, 191 ; death of, 192. 

Examination of Quakers iu Bos- 
ton, 157-161. 

Fanaticism in the seventeenth 

century, G, 9. 
Featley, Rev. Dr. Daniel, his 

tract on the Anabaptists, 11 ; 

his hostility to Milton, 11. 
Felton, Benjamin, 9G. 
Fisher, Mary, arrives in Boston, 

34 ; lier arrest and persecution, 

35-40. 
Fourbish, William, put in the 

stocks, 100. 
Fiske's (John) careless repetition 

of slanders against the Qua- 
kers, 7&-77. 



Forster's (John) Statesmen of 
England, 9. 

Fox, George, visits and speaks 
in steeple - houses, 5 ; the 
founder of Quakerism, 13 ; 
opinions of Macaulay and Car- 
lyle concerning, 13 ; his par- 
ents, 14 ; early religious ex- 
perience, 14 ; his mission 
revealed to liim, 15 ; his views 
on magistracy, 25. 

Gardner's (George) wife fined for 
absence from church, 128. 

Gardner, Hored, whipping of, 
IIG, 172. 

Gibbons, Sarah, 9G, 111, 116. 

Gough's (John) History of the 
Quakers, 173. 

Gould, Daniel, letter of, to the 
rulers and people of Boston, 
90, 210. 

Grahame's (James) History of 
the Hise and Progress of the 
United States of North Amer- 
ica, 72. 

Gunning, Dr., Bishop of Ely, 4. 

Higginson, Rev. Jolm, of Salem, 
94, 95. 

Hireling ministry, a, Milton's 
views concerning, 20. 

Holder, Christopher, 111. 

Hooten, Elizabeth, 94; barba- 
rously whipped, 97 ; the first 
convert to Quakerism, 97 ; her 
sufferings, 177. 

Hubberthorn, Richard, 26. 

Hutchinson, Mrs. Ann, banished, 
33. 

Hutchinson Papers, the, 33, 94. 

Inward Light, the, doctrine of, 

16, 118, 132. 
Ivimey's (Joseph) Life and Times 

of John Milton, 1\, 12. 

Janney's (Samuel M. ) Life of 

George Fox, 29. 
Jones, Margaret, 39 ; hanged for 

witchcraft, 41. 

"King's Missive," the, 55, 189- 

191. 
Kitchin, Elizabeth, insulted by 

Edmmid Batter, 51. 

Laud's (Archbishop) abortive at- 



INDEX. 



225 



tempt to reconcile Rome and 
the Anglican CJiurch, 2 ; exe- 
cution of, 2. 

Leddra, William, imprisoned and 
scourged, G2-G4 ; put to death, 
61 ; letter of, 208. 

Lodge's (H. C.) A Short His- 
tory of the English Colonies in 
America, 78. 

Macaulay's (T. B.) estimate of 
George Fox, 13. 

Marsden's (J. B.) Later Puri- 
timx, 10. 

Massachusetts Archives, the, ex- 
tracts from, 153-1 Gl, 182, 210, 
213, 217, 220. 

Massachusetts Historical Society, 
Proceedings of the, 82. 

Massachusetts, General Court of, 
enacts laws against tlie Qua- 
kers, 45, 48, 40, 53 ; suspends 
and reenacts them, 55 ; employs 
Jolm Norton to write a refuta- 
tion of (iuaker errors, 120 ; pe- 
titions to, against the Quakers, 
121, 1.53. 

Massachusetts Records, 70, 192 ; 
extracts from, 133-152, 175- 
177. 

Masson's (David) Life of Milton, 
5,23. 

Mather, Cotton, his abuse of the 
Quakers, 74 ; liis Magnalia, 75. 

Memorial Histori) of Boston, the, 
82, 85, 98, 111, '125. 

Miles, Mary, trial of, 109. 

Milton, John, epigram on the 
Presbyterians, 3; denounced as 
a pestilent Anabaptist, 11 ; an- 
athematizes the Bishops, 11 ; 
replies to Salmasius's vindica- 
tion of Cliarles I., 12; his views 
on a hireling ministry, 20. 

"Minutes of the Magistrates " of 
Boston, 122. 

Mott, Lucretia, 129. 

Muggleton, Ludowick, 13. 

Muuster iniquities, the, 45, 4G. 

Naylor's (James) fantastic ex- 
travagances, 29. 

Neal's (Daniel) History of the 
Puritans, 2, 8. 

Newhouse, Thomas, 90, 104. 

Newland, VV., imprisoned, 114. 

Norton, Hmuphrey, branded for 
heresy, 5G ; journal of, 92. 
15 



Norton, Rev. John, leading min- 
ister of the Massachusetts Col- 
ony, 33 ; his hatred of the Qua- 
kers, 57, 58, G7 ; his scriptural 
argument against them,9.J,120; 
recompensed therefor, 121; his 
defense of Brend's gaoler, 121. 

Parker's (Hon. Joel) attack upon 
early Friends, 74. 

Penn's (WilUam) Rise and Prog- 
ress of t/ie People called Qua- 
kers, 29. 

Petition, for severer laws against 
the Quakers, 121, 153; to tlie 
King for interference, 183-187. 

Phelps, Nicliolas, fined and im- 
prisoned, 127. 

Philanthrophy of the Quakers, 

Presbyterians, the, bigotry and 
cruelty of, 2 ; Milton's epigram 
on, 3. 

Prince, Mary, denounces Endi- 
cott, 44; imprisoumeut of , 111. 

Prynne's ridicule of church 
choirs, 11. 

Puritanism, defined, 1; its growth 
and spread, 2-12 ; Quakerism 
an outgrowth of, 123. 

Pui-itans, the English, Scriptural 
names adopted by, 8, 9; de- 
spoil churclies and cathedrals, 
10. 

Puritans in Massachusetts, their 
persecutions of the Quakers, 
32-08, 99-104, 120-128 ; their 
assertion that Quakers had no 
right to enter the colony re- 
futed, 09-71 ; their strong and 
abusive language, 94 ; modern 
apologies for, 105 ; their accu- 
sations agauist tlie Quakers, 
108 ; their abliorence of Qua- 
ker opinions the cause of the 
persecution, 117 ; their denun- 
ciations of the Inward Light, 
118; their intolerance, 119; 
their plan of government a 
failure, 131. 

" Quaker," a term applied in de- 
rision, 30. 

Quakerism an outgrowth of Puri- 
tanism, 123. 

Quakers, tlie, their doctrines and 
beliefs, 10-31 ; their views on 
the Inward Light, 10, 118 ; ou 



226 



INDEX 



liberty of thought and speech, 
IG ; on the Scriptures, 17 ; on 
an ordained mhiistry and 
church tithes, 19, 20 ; on bap- 
tism, coniniiinion, prayers, and 
oaths, 22 ; on the Sabbath, 
22 ; on titles, 22 ; on war, 23 ; 
on marriage, 23 ; a law-abidmg 
people, 25 ; persecution of, 29 ; 
style themselves Friends, 30 ; 
their test of membership, 30 ; 
modes of procedure, 30, 31 ; 
plulanthropy, 31 ; arrival of 
Quaker missionaries at Bos- 
ton, Massachusetts, 32, 34 ; 
their arrest, 35 ; abuse and ban- 
ishment of, 38-40 ; arrival of 
others at Boston, 42 ; more im- 
prisoned and banished, 42 ; the 
General Court enacts laws 
against, 45, 48, 49, 53 ; women 
stripped and whipped, 51, (32 ; 
falsely branded as vagabonds, 
53 ; temporarily relieved by 
the " King's Missive," 55 ; 
mutilated, hanged, banished, 
and scourged, 56, 57, G2-CG ; 
popular sympathy with, 57-59, 
6G-G8 ; their right to enter 
the colony, G9, 70 ; four fifths 
of them residents before the 
persecution, 71 ; slanders 
against, 72-74 ; their treat- 
ment by modern " histori- 
ans," 75-82 ; their testimonies 
considered and vindicated, 82- 
91 ; not guilty as a body, of 
improper behavior, 91 ; special 
accusations against examined, 
94 ; the cases of Lydia Ward- 
well and Deborah Wilson, 99- 
104 ; interruptions of church 
service, 107 ; their custom of 
wearmg tlie hat, 109 ; persecu- 
tion of, in the Plymouth Col- 
ony, 114 ; their religious opin- 
ions the real cause of the 
persecution, 117 ; their leading 
tenets common with those of 
the Puritans, 117 ; i-adical dif- 
ferences,110; summary of pros- 
ecutions against, in Boston, 
122 ; themselves Puritans, 125 ; 
their final triumph, 128 ; their 
religion still an active force, 
132 ; colonial laws for their 
suppression, 133-152 ; examin- 
ation of, in Boston, 157-lGl ; 



order of banishment, 182 ; pe- 
tition the Iving to iuterfere, 
. 183 ; the liing's Missive, 189, 
190 ; prescriptive laws reen- 
acted, 191 ; trials of, 193-202 ; 
letters of William Robmsou, 
Marmaduke Stevenson, Jlary 
Dyer, and other leading 
Friends, 202-222. 

Rayner, Rev., instigates whip- 
ping of Quaker women, 100. 

Religious controversj^ and debate 
in England during the seven- 
teenth century, 3. 

Robmson, WilUam, sentenced to 
death, 58 ; letter of, 202. 

Roots, Thomas, 9G. 

Rouse, Jolm, petitions the King 
in behalf of the Massachusetts 
Quakers, 183-187. 

Saltonstall, Sir Richard, deplores 
persecution of the Quakers, 
33. 

Scriptures, the, Quaker views 
concerning, 17. 

Scudder, H. E., 124. 

Sects m the seventeenth century 
enumerated, 5. 

Sewall's (Judge Samuel) defini- 
tion of Quakerism, 75 ; Diary, 
99. 

Sewel's (William) History of the 
Quakers, 23, 29, 177, 188, 206, 
208. 

Shattuck, Samuel, petitions the 
King in belialf of the Massa- 
chusetts Quakers, 183. 

Skerry, Henry, 96. 

Smith, Margaret, letter of, to 
Governor Endicott, 84, 213. 

Smith, Richard, 111. 

Southcote, Joanna, 13. 

Southwick, Consader, 122. 

Southwick, Daniel and Provi- 
ded, ordered to be sold into 
slavery, 50 : Provided fined, 
127. 

Southwick, Josiah, addresses a 
letter to the General Court, 88, 
175, 220. 

Southwick (Southick), Laurence 
and Cassandra, sufferings of, 
173 ; Laurence, letter of, 175. 

Stevenson, Marmaduke, sen- 
tenced to death, 58 ; letter of, 
202. 



INDEX. 



227 



Temple, Col., endeavors to pre- 
vent execution of Quakers, GO. 

Thirstone, Tlionias, 111. 

Toleration fostered under the 
Commonwealth, 3. 

Tomkius, Mary, publicly 
whipped, lOO. 

Trask, Mary, letter of, to Gov- 
ernor Eudicott, 84, 213. 

Upsall, Nicholas, sends provi- 
sions to imprisoned Quakers, 
3G : laments anti-(iuaker legis- 
lation, 47 ; fined and banished, 



Vane, Sir Henry, 3, 33. 
Very, Nathaniel, 1'29. 

Wardwell, Eliakira, 99; put in 

the stocks, 100. 
Wardwell, Lydia, case of, 102 ; 

her cruel punishment, 104. 



Wardwell, Thomas, 99. 

Wangli, Dorotliy, 9(1, 111, 110. 

M'hitehead, Mary, 111. 

Whitin":, John, refutes Cotton 
Mather's slanders, 70. 

Whiting's (Jolui) Truth and In- 
vovnu-ji Defended, 74, 70. 

Whittier's (John G. ) lines on Cas- 
sandra Southwick, 53 : poem 
on the King's Missive, 189. 

Williams, Eoger, driven into ex- 
ile, 33. 

Wilson, Deborah, the case of, 
104. 

Winthrop, John, Governor of 
Connectictit, protests against 
hanging Quakers, GO. 

Wintlirop, John, Governor of 
Massachusetts, regrets liis per- 
secution of "heresy," 33. 

Winthorp, Samuel, son of Gov. 
Winthrop, a Quaker, 71. 

Wright, Lydia, trial of, 197. 



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History of Charles XH. Crown 8vo, $2.25. 

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John Woolman's Journal. Introduction by Whittier. %\.yx 

Child Life in Poetry. Selected by Whittier. Illustrated. 

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A catalogue containing portraits of many of the above 
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HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY, Boston, Mass 










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